Dr. Alfred Allport was an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 rugby union

Rugby union

Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...

 forward who played club rugby for Blackheath and international rugby for England

England national rugby union team

The England national rugby union team represents England in rugby union. They compete in the annual Six Nations Championship with France, Ireland, Scotland, Italy, and Wales. They have won this championship on 26 occasions, 12 times winning the Grand Slam, making them the most successful team in...

. In 1890 Allport became one of the original members of the Barbarians Football Club

Barbarian F.C.

The Barbarian Football Club, usually referred to as the Barbarians and nicknamed the "Baa-Baas", is an invitational rugby union team based in Britain...

, he also represented Surrey at County level.

Rugby career

Allport began playing rugby as a youth, playing and later captaining the London International College

London International College

The International College in London was an early attempt at international education, operating from 1867 to 1889. It enrolled secondary-school students from a number of countries in a program aimed at fostering internationalist sentiments in its pupils...

 School team. For a short time Allport also played for Sutton RFC

Sutton & Epsom RFC

Sutton & Epsom Rugby Football Club is one of the oldest active rugby clubs in England, having been formed in 1881. The club first played against Saracens in the 1883–84 season as one of their very early opponents and in 1901 beat Stade Francais on their home turf.The club is today one of the...

. Allport graduated from the London College to Guy's Hospital

Guy's Hospital

Guy's Hospital is a large NHS hospital in the borough of Southwark in south east London, England. It is administratively a part of Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust. It is a large teaching hospital and is home to the King's College London School of Medicine...

, which had a renowned rugby team. He was given the captaincy of Guy's Rugby team

Guy's, Kings and St. Thomas' Rugby Football Club

Guy's, Kings and St. Thomas' Rugby Football Club is the name given to the modern amalgam of three formerly distinct hospital rugby clubs each with a long history, having all been founded in the nineteenth century. The teams from Guy's Hospital and St Thomas' Hospital were the first to merge...

, which went through a successful period under his leadership. From Guy's, Allport joined Blackheath, the team he would represent throughout his three year international career.

Allport gained his first international cap when he was called into the England team for the encounter with Wales

Wales national rugby union team

The Wales national rugby union team represent Wales in international rugby union tournaments. They compete annually in the Six Nations Championship with England, France, Ireland, Italy and Scotland. Wales have won the Six Nations and its predecessors 24 times outright, second only to England with...

 as part of the 1892 Home Nations Championship

1892 Home Nations Championship

The 1892 Home Nations Championship was the tenth series of the rugby union Home Nations Championship. Six matches were played between 2 January and 5 March. It was contested by England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales....

. Despite a crushing defeat over Wales Allport was replaced by the returning Sammy Woods

Sammy Woods

Samuel Moses James "Sammy" Woods was an Australian sportsman who represented both Australia and England at Test cricket, and appeared thirteen times for England at rugby union, including five times as captain. He also played at county level in England at both soccer and hockey...

 for the remaining two games of the Championship. England won all three international games in 1892, making Allport a Triple Crown

Triple Crown (Rugby Union)

In rugby union, the Triple Crown is an honour contested annually by the four national teams of the British Isles who compete within the larger Six Nations Championship: England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales. If any one team manages to win all their games against the other three they win the...

 winning player. The next season Allport was given another international cap, chosen for the team to face Ireland

Ireland national rugby union team

The Ireland national rugby union team represents the island of Ireland in rugby union. The team competes annually in the Six Nations Championship and every four years in the Rugby World Cup, where they reached the quarter-final stage in all but two competitions The Ireland national rugby union...

 as part of the 1893 Championship

1893 Home Nations Championship

The 1893 Home Nations Championship was the eleventh series of the rugby union Home Nations Championship. Six matches were played between 17 January and 11 March. It was contested by England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales...

. The Irish game was the only win for England during a season dominated by the Welsh team.

Alport was selected for all three games of the 1894 Home Nations Championship

1894 Home Nations Championship

The 1894 Home Nations Championship was the twelfth series of the rugby union Home Nations Championship. Six matches were played between 6 January and 17 March. It was contested by England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales.-Table:-Results:...

, which started with a win over last year's winners, Wales. The next two matches, against Scotland and Ireland, both ended in defeat for England, and Allport was never selected for his country again.

Other sports

As well as rugby, Allport was proficient in other sports, including rowing and boxing. In 1893 he was part of the eight man Thames Rowing Club team that won that year's Thames Challenge Cup

Thames Challenge Cup

The Thames Challenge Cup is a rowing event for men's eights at the annual Henley Royal Regatta on the River Thames at Henley-on-Thames in England. It is open to male crews from a single rowing club. Boat clubs from any university, college or secondary school are not permitted, neither are squad...

. As an amateur boxer he fought in, and won, several gymnasium championships, and was the heavyweight champion of Guy's Hospital.