Born: December 29, 1885 - Waitara
Died: September 4, 1954 - New Plymouth
Test record: 5 Tests (1908-09) - 0 points
Tours: 1907-08 tour of Britain and Australia, 1909 tour of Australia
Wellington and Taranaki forward Adam Lile was part of the trailblazing 1907-08 'All Golds' squad and toured Australia again in 1909 with the New Zealand team.
A Wellington rugby union rep from the Oriental club (where he played alongside Albert Baskiville), Lile made the North Island team that year before accepting a place in the so-called 'professional All Blacks' team.
Lile played in one match against NSW (under rugby union rules) en route to Britain, where he turned out 15 times for the All Golds. He was more prominent on the return Australian leg, scoring two tries in a win over Queensland and three in a convincing victory against Brisbane, before playing in the last two Tests against Australia.
Upon the All Golds' return, Lile went back to his home province of Taranaki and was instrumental to establishing the code there. He was a player-coach for the Taranaki team that won one of their two games against Auckland in 1908.
Lile played in eight of the 1909 New Zealand tourists' 10 games in Australia, including all three Test matches.
The rugby league pioneer was named alongside Graeme West in the second-row in Taranaki's Team of the Century in 2008.