Born: 19 February, 1887 – Christchurch Died: 7 June, 1917 – West Flanders, Belgium Test record: 1 Test (1914) – 0 points
Sydenham’s second international after 1913 New Zealand rep Jim Auld, halfback Bill Bussell played in sole Test against the touring England team in 1914.
Bussell featured in the first rugby league game in Christchurch, for Canterbury against Wellington, and also turned out for the province against Hawke’s Bay in Napier later that year.
A key member of the Sydenham side that dominated the early seasons of the CRL club competition, Bussell captained Canterbury in 1914 and was selected for New Zealand’s 16-13 loss to England at the Domain Cricket Ground in Auckland – its first Test match since 1910 and last until 1919.
Bussell was nominated for New Zealand’s 1915 tour of Australia that was eventually abandoned. Joining the war effort in 1916, he one of six New Zealand rugby league representative killed in action during WWI. Private Bussell, part of the Canterbury Infantry Regiment, 1st Battalion, died in Flanders, Belgium in 1917 during the Battle of Messines.
