Arthur Percy Singe (7 July 1898 — 5 January 1936) was a New Zealand rugby league player who represented the national side in 1925, becoming Kiwi number 179 in the process.
Prior to this he played for the New Zealand Army rugby team in 1919 in Great Britain and South Africa following the end of World War I where he fought.
Arthur was appearing in court charged with stealing a horse and cart belonging to George Mills along with ten packets of cigarettes from the same man.
[6] Arthur Singe enlisted in the army on 16 November 1915 at the age of 17 and served in the Auckland Mounted Rifles, A Squadron with his brother Albert.
[18] At the end of World War I the New Zealand armed forces formed several rugby teams to play against a wide variety of opponents through Great Britain and France.
[19] He then played in matches against the Australian Imperial Forces, the RAF team, and Yorkshire throughout February and March with the New Zealand side winning all of them comfortably.
And he was equally good at offensive play, not only in diving for the line, but in swinging the ball clear to his backs from the toes of the opposing forwards".
[33] The Military Service team as they were named was to beat the current Ranfurly Shield holders comfortably by 23 points to 8 in front of 10,000 spectators which included the Prince of Wales who was to become the future King (Edward VIII), and New Zealand Prime Minister W. F.
[34] Many years later in 1940 in reference to the army team Mr. J. H. Ranui was to write in the Auckland Star "Two great forwards of the Army team, Alfie West and Arthur Singe, have crossed the Great Divide, but they have left pleasant memories of outstanding personalities who played a game that forms character, and if England won battles with men from the playing fields of Eton, likewise New Zealand won hers from the Rugby fields of her provinces".
[41] Auckland won the match 22–15 with Singe heavily involved, breaking away with the ball several times and scoring a try early in the second half.
[48] Singe continued his try scoring run with a "splendid try" for Marist in an 11–3 loss to competition leaders Grammar Old Boys on 14 August, at Eden Park.
[51] The Hawera and Normanby Star described Singe's display as "one of the finest exhibitions of aggressive and spoiling play ever seen here for a long time".
[54] In the meantime Marist's season had concluded without Singe required to play as Ponsonby defaulted in the last round meaning they finished 4th of the 7 competing clubs.
A week later he kicked 3 conversions and a penalty in a win over Newton Rangers at Victoria Park in front of an excitable crowd which invaded the field before he could convert the third try.
In the rugby code Singe was also a noted figure, and during the war was a member of the New Zealand Army team which made a good name for itself on foreign fields".
In the summer of 1924/25 Singe returned to Auckland and played cricket for the Post and Telegraph senior team in the Suburban Association competition.
[95] He then played in a 24–16 win over South Auckland in a Northern Union Challenge Cup match before another game against the New Zealand side after they returned home from their tour.
Although Queensland was a state side they were considered to be the strongest team in the world and at the time New Zealand Rugby League bestowed test status on the matches.
There were issues right from the beginning of the tour with players said to be upset by having to pay for their own laundry bills on board the ship which were more expensive than land based facilities.
The seven forwards were Singe, Neil Mouat, Lou Petersen, Jack Wright, Alphonsus Carroll, Bill Devine, and Frank Henry.
An article appearing in the Evening Post on 20 December went into considerable detail about the issues that had arisen throughout the tour and speculated that their match with Hunslet may be their last which would result in a £2,000 loss for the New Zealand Rugby League.
On 22 December the New Zealand Rugby League Council endorsed the suspension of Mair along with 5 striking players which included Singe.
[132] Singe, along with Mouat, Devine, Thomas, Petersen, and Carroll all then returned to New Zealand ahead of their teammates and were accompanied by Mr. Ponder the manager.
Bert Avery, the captain after arriving home, said "it has been a wonderful trip... our team was a great one if all had held together, and I think we did very well... we were left with only five forwards to carry on for two months.
Others who had been on the tour felt that Singe and the other "malcontents" were wrong with the attitude they adopted, and that "there may have been conditions imposed which we did not entirely agree with, but most of us were prepared to put up with them, and it was the same for all".
[134] The official press agent for the team Mr. J. O'Shaughnessy gave a lengthy statement on his version of events detailing many of the issues on the tour.
He cited the players having to pay their own laundry bills on board, having to wear collars and ties at meals in spite of the tropical heat, and being asked to perform the haka in public multiple times.
He represented Auckland in a 4–26 loss against the touring Australian team in the same year, while in 1958 he played in a 16–15 win for the Ellerslie senior side against Manly-Warringah.
[citation needed] Arthur and his brothers were the subject of an article on the Auckland War Memorial Museum Online Cenotaph on 7 February 2017.
[152] Helene Wong and Ant Sang wrote comics which appeared in the Being Chinese in Aotearoa exhibition with one of them on the story of Herbert Stanley Sing in the First World War.