1908 New Zealand Māori rugby league tour of Australia

The 1908 New Zealand Māori rugby league tour of Australia was a tour made by a group of New Zealand Māori rugby footballers who played rugby league matches in Queensland and New South Wales. The tour had a large role in helping the New South Wales Rugby League establish itself in Sydney. As a result, the tour is a significant part of rugby league history. Financial and legal issues disrupted the end of the tour and an exhibition match held under rugby union rules was held to help pay for the teams return voyage to New Zealand.

Rugby league was founded in 1895 when rugby union clubs in Northern England split from the governing body over the ability to pay their players and formed the Northern Union. Similar tensions developed in Australasia and they came to a head when the 1905 Original All Blacks toured Great Britain. This tour made the New Zealand Rugby Union a huge profit of £12,000, yet the players were only paid 3/- a day expenses while on tour.

This resulted in the 1907-08 New Zealand tour of Great Britain to play the Northern union clubs. At the same time in Sydney the New South Wales Rugby League was forming, resulting in the 1908 NSWRFL season.

Albert Asher, an All Black who was injured and could not tour with the 1907-08 New Zealand side, began organising with the NSWRL to host a tour of a New Zealand Māori side, perhaps inspired by the successful 1888–1889 New Zealand Native football team that toured Britain and Australia. Many Māori were reportedly unhappy by their treatment from the Wellington-based NZRU.

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