Arthur George Paul was an Irish

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

 sportsman who played 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...

 as a full back, playing club rugby for Swinton

Swinton Lions

Swinton Lions is an English professional rugby league club from Swinton, Greater Manchester. The club has won the Championship six times and three Challenge Cups. They currently play in the Championship.-Early years:...

 and represented Lancashire

Lancashire County Cricket Club

Lancashire County Cricket Club represents the historic county of Lancashire in cricket's County Championship. The club was founded in 1864 as a successor to Manchester Cricket Club and has played at Old Trafford since then...

 as a first-class cricket

Cricket

Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...

er. Paul was not selected for the England or Ireland rugby teams, but in 1888 he was chosen for the New Zealand and Australia tour

1888 British Lions tour to New Zealand and Australia

The 1888 British Isles tour to New Zealand and Australia was a series of rugby union games played by an unofficial British team against invitational teams in New Zealand and Australia...

 as part of the first British Isles team

British and Irish Lions

The British and Irish Lions is a rugby union team made up of players from England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales...

.

Rugby career

In 1888, Paul was invited to join the first British rugby overseas tour. The tour was managed by two cricketers, Arthur Shrewsbury

Arthur Shrewsbury

Arthur Shrewsbury was an English cricketer, and rugby football administrator, who organised the first British Isles rugby tour to Australasia in 1888, and who was widely rated as competing with W. G...

 and Alfred Shaw

Alfred Shaw

Alfred Shaw was an eminent Victorian cricketer and rugby footballer, who bowled the first ball in Test cricket and was the first to take five wickets in a Test innings . He who organised the first British Isles rugby tour to Australasia in 1888...

, but it was not supported by any of the rugby unions and no matches were arranged with national teams. The tour took in both Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 and New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

and 35 rugby matches were played against invitational teams. Paul was selected to play at full back, and took part in 29 matches, kicking 13 conversions and one dropped goal.