Wikipedia:Today's featured article/requests/Thomas Ellison

Thomas Ellison

 * The following discussion is an archived discussion of the TFAR nomination of the article below. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as Wikipedia talk:Today's featured article/requests). Please do not modify this page unless you are renominating the article at TFAR. For renominations, please add   to the top of the discussion and   at the bottom, then complete a new TFAR nom underneath.

The result was: scheduled for Today's featured article/May 20, 2014 by BencherliteTalk 10:18, 6 May 2014 (UTC)



Thomas Ellison (c. 1867 – 1904) was a New Zealand rugby union player. After being educated at Te Aute College, where he was introduced to rugby, Ellison moved to Wellington, and played for the Poneke Football Club. He was subsequently selected to represent Wellington province, and was later recruited into Joe Warbrick's privately organised 1888–89 New Zealand Native football team. Ellison scored 113 points and 43 tries on their epic 107-match tour of the British Isles, Australia and New Zealand. On his return he continued with Poneke and Wellington, and from 1892 started to refine and popularise the wing-forward system of play, which was a vital element of New Zealand rugby's style until 1932. At the first New Zealand Rugby Football Union annual general meeting in 1893, he proposed that the playing colours of the New Zealand side should be predominantly black with a silver fern—a playing strip that inspired the team’s name of All Blacks. That year he captained the New Zealand side on their tour of Australia. He retired from playing afterwards, but continued as a coach and administrator. Ellison was the author of a coaching manual, The Art of Rugby Football, published in 1902.
 * Most recent similar articles: Years since a rugby union TFA, however regularly sports related biographies
 * Main editors:
 * Promoted: 6 July 2013
 * Reasons for nomination: Haven't had a rugby union biography on the main page, not sure if we've had a Māori biography up either, so why not.
 * Support as nominator. Shudde  talk 11:57, 30 April 2014 (UTC)
 * Support, different sort of sport on Main Page. &mdash; Cirt (talk) 04:05, 2 May 2014 (UTC)