When New Zealand's national rugby team (the All Blacks) toured Britain in 1905 they witnessed the growing popularity of the breakaway non-amateur Northern Union's games.

On his return in 1906, All Black George William Smith met the Australian entrepreneur J J Giltinan to discuss the potential of professional rugby in Australasia.

George Smith arrived back in New Zealand and after learning of Baskerville's plans, the two teamed up and began signing players.

They had the New Zealand Government's Agent General in London deliver a statement to the British press in an effort to undermine the tour's credibility.

Clearly, "All Golds" was a play on the amateur "All Blacks" name but it was also an insult to the players, criticising the arrangement where they would each share in the wealth of the tour.

The name "All Golds" is now thought to have originated in a New Zealand newspaper in May/June 1907 (see panel below), amidst editorial arguments over whether it was honourable for the proposed "professional All Blacks" team to be paid.

Those same Herald articles also had a tag for those who supported the amateur rugby union calling them the "Lily Whites" (who were clean, pure, and repelled the evils of professionalism).

From a New Zealander's point of view, the tour may not have been successful, but to the All Gold's credit they performed well considering they only had a week to learn the rules.

[2] The 1910 Great Britain Lions tour of Australia and New Zealand saw the Kiwis' first ever test on home soil, with the British side proving too strong.

In mid-November, following further disturbances, which almost led to the tour party being evicted from their Harrogate hotel, it was decided that coach Mair would withdraw from team selection and match tactics for a period of four weeks.

The tour, and the costly disputes, continued, with the rebels eventually setting sail for home a week earlier than their colleagues.

[4] In 1947 at Odsal Stadium, Bradford in England, a crowd of 42,680 saw New Zealand play, setting a new record for the team on British soil.

During the 1961–63 era, New Zealand won seven out of ten test matches, including a 2–0 series win over Great Britain, then considered the top rugby league nation in the world.

New Zealand in the period 1960–65 won the Courtney Goodwill Trophy for most successful test-playing nation, The Kiwis again got a sole win against France from their three matches of the 1970 World Cup.

Australia crashed to a defeat on Tuesday 21 July 1987, when the Kangaroo dominance of the international game suffered a rare setback.

[4] New Zealand almost got their revenge on Australia in the 1995 World Cup semi-final when, with the scores level at 20–20, a last minute drop-goal attempt by skipper Matthew Ridge brushed the wrong side of the post, allowing the game to go into extra-time.

[8] 2005 would be considered one of the Kiwis greatest years, as they captured the 2005 Tri-Nations title, effectively becoming "de facto" World champions as the three best countries competed in that competition.

The 2006 Tri-nations brought controversy when New Zealand fielded an ineligible player, Nathan Fien, against Great Britain and were later stripped of the two points earned from their 18–14 win.

[10] In July 2007, the Leeds Rhinos announced that Brian McClennan would be joining the club as Head Coach on a two-year contract from 1 December 2007.

In the second test of the series on 3 November 2007, Kemble returned to KC Stadium, the ground on which he had spent a large portion of his playing days with Hull F.C.

It was to be a disastrous homecoming, however, as the Kiwis suffered their second humiliating defeat under Kemble when beaten 44–0 by an inspired Great Britain.

[13] The win gave Great Britain an unassailable series lead leaving the Kiwis with only pride to play for in the final test at JJB Stadium in Wigan.

The All Golds were revived again in 2008 as a testimonial match for Ruben Wiki, where they defeated the New Zealand Maori team 44–10 at Yarrow Stadium in New Plymouth.

After the World Cup Kearney was put under pressure after it was found out players were mixing sleeping pills and energy drinks during the tournament which affected performances.

In the second game the Kiwis faced another scare against Samoa when they were on the verge of a 12–10 defeat with just minutes remaining before Kearney's men scored near full-time to avoid the shock result.

In the final, winger Manu Vatuvei scored two tries to become New Zealand's top try-scorer after tallying his 20th try during the match to beat a record that's been held by Nigel Vagana since 2006.

[26] Before the 2016 Anzac Test, controversy had occurred when regular New Zealand players Manu Vatuvei and Ben Matulino were caught partying and mixing energy drinks with prescription drugs.

David Fusitu'a, Sio Siua Taukeiaho and Manu Ma'u, who were all in contention for World Cup selection, also followed Taumololo's lead.

The words of the latter are translated as follows:[45] Its pèrformance is preceded by the team forming a huddle with the leader at the centre while the karakia "Tūturu whakamaua kia tīnā!

[47] Statistics in the table are drawn from the website, Rugby League Project and include the week 4 match against Papua New Guinea on 10 November 2024.