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.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Ellison

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1217:

In the Battle of Lincoln, the last land battle of the First Barons' War, William the Marshal drove Prince Louis of France out of England. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Lincoln_(1217)

1609:

Thomas Thorpe published the first copies of Shakespeare's sonnets, possibly without William Shakespeare's consent. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakespeare%27s_sonnets

1882:

The Triple Alliance was created between Germany, Austria- Hungary and Italy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triple_Alliance_(1882)

1927:

By the Treaty of Jeddah, the United Kingdom recognized the sovereignty of King Ibn Saud over Hejaz and Nejd, which later merged to become Saudi Arabia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibn_Saud

1993:

"One for the Road", the series finale of American television sitcom Cheers, was watched by 42.4 million American households on its original airing. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_for_the_Road_(Cheers)

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

much of a muchness: (idiomatic) Of two or more things, having little difference of any significance between them. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/much_of_a_muchness

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

 There is a revolution coming. It will not be like revolutions of the past. It will originate with the individual and with culture, and it will change the political structure only as its final act. It will not require violence to succeed, and it cannot be successfully resisted by violence. It is now spreading with amazing rapidity, and already our laws, institutions and social structure are changing in consequence. It promises a higher reason, a more human community, and a new and liberated individual. Its ultimate creation will be a new and enduring wholeness and beauty — a renewed relationship of man to himself, to other men, to society, to nature, and to the land. This is the revolution of the new generation.   --Charles A. Reich https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Charles_A._Reich