1929–30 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain explained

Tour:	1929–30
Team:	Australia
Yearstart:	1929
Yearfinish:	1930
Destination:	England Wales
Manager:	Harry Sunderland
Coach:	Arthur Hennessey
Captain:	Tom Gorman
Top Point Scorer:	Eric Weissel 131
Top Try Scorer:	Bill Shankland 24
Top Test Point Scorer:	Eric Weissel 13 Jim Sullivan 6
Top Test Try Scorer:	Bill Shankland 3 4 players with 1 try each
Matchplayed:	35
Matchwon:	26
Matchdraw:	2
Matchlost:	7
Testplayed:	5
Testwon:	2
Testdraw:	1
Testlost:	2
Played1:	4
Won1:	1
Draw1:	1
Lost1:	2
Played2:	1
Won2:	1
Draw2:	0
Lost2:	0
Previous:	1921–22
Next:	1933–34

The 1929–30 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain was the fourth Kangaroo tour, and took the Australia national rugby league team all around England and also into Wales. The tour featured the ninth Ashes series which comprised four Test matches and was won by Great Britain. The team sailed on the SS Orsova via the Panama Canal and played an exhibition game in New York before arriving in England.

Touring squad

A total of 28 footballers were selected to go on the tour: 13 from clubs of Sydney's NSWRFL Premiership, 4 from clubs of the Toowoomba Rugby League, 3 from clubs of the Brisbane Rugby League premiership, 3 from clubs of the Ipswich Rugby League and 5 from elsewhere in country New South Wales and Queensland. In Sydney on 24 July 1929, the day before the Kangaroos were to sail to England, Queensland's Tom Gorman was named captain of the squad.^[1] He was the first Queenslander to captain a touring Kangaroos side and would be the last until Wally Lewis in 1986 (Herb Steinohrt was to have led the 1933–34 Kangaroos but declared himself unavailable to tour).^[2] South Sydney's Arthur Hennessey joined the tour as non-playing coach,^[3] the first such appointment till Clive Churchill in 1959.^[4] The tour manager was Harry Sunderland.^[5]

The players were paid £4 10s per week from the time they left Sydney till they returned. The English and Australian Leagues agreed on strict rules prohibiting English clubs from signing the Australian players during the tour.^[6]

Name	Posit.	Club	Tests
Vic Armbruster	Forward	Fortitude Valley	3
George Bishop	Hooker	Balmain	2
Bill Brogan	Forward	Western Suburbs (Sydney)	3
Joe Busch	Half	Eastern Suburbs (Sydney)	4
Dan Dempsey	Hooker	Tivoli	1
Arthur Edwards	Half	Fortitude Valley	0
Cec Fifield	Three-quarter	Western Suburbs (Sydney)	4
Harry Finch	Three-quarter	South Sydney	0
Tom Gorman (c)	Three-quarter	Brothers (Brisbane)	4
Arthur Henderson	Hooker	Booval	0
Jack Holmes	Half	Newtown (Sydney)	0
Arthur Justice	Hooker	St. George	2
Harry Kadwell	Half	South Sydney	0
Jack Kingston	Forward	Cootamundra	2
Fred Laws	Half	Newtown (Toowoomba)	1
Mick Madsen	Forward	Brothers (Toowoomba)	2
Paddy Maher	Three-quarter	South Sydney	0
Frank McMillan	Fullback	Western Suburbs (Sydney)	4
Wally Prigg	Forward	Central Newcastle	2
Alan Ridley	Three-quarter	Queanbeyan	0
Eddie Root	Forward	South Sydney	0
Les Sellars	Forward	Starlights (Ipswich)	0
Bill Shankland	Three-quarter	Eastern Suburbs (Sydney)	4
Bill Spencer	Three-quarter	? (Bundaberg)	4
Herb Steinohrt	Forward	Valleys (Toowoomba)	3
George Treweek	Forward	South Sydney	4
Jack Upton	Fullback	Souths (Toowoomba)	0
Eric Weissel	Half	Temora	3

Matches

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1st Test

In the tour matches leading up to the first Test, the Australian team had won 7 of their 8 games. The English team was weakened by the absence of their usual captain, Jonty Parkin (who was suffering from lower back pain), as well as Brough and Ellaby

The Lions	Posit.	Australia
Tom Rees	FB	Frank McMillan
Emlyn Gwynne	WG	Bill Spencer
Roy Kinnear	CE	Cec Fifield
Billy Dingsdale	CE	Tom Gorman (c)
Alf Frodsham	WG	Bill Shankland
Les Fairclough (c)	SO	Eric Weissel
Billo Rees	SH	Joe Busch
Harold Bowman	PR	Peter Madsen
Nat Bentham	HK	George Bishop
Joe Thompson	PR	Bill Brogan
Bill Horton	SR	Vic Armbruster
Alf Middleton	SR	George Treweek
Jack Feetham	LF	Wally Prigg

Australia had scored four tries by half time. England's first try came 14 minutes into the second half. This was England captain Les Fairclough's last match against the Australians.^[7]

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2nd Test

In response to their loss to the Australians in the previous Test, the British made several changes to their side for the 2nd Test.

The Lions	Posit.	Australia
Jim Sullivan	FB	Frank McMillan
Alf Ellaby	WG	Bill Spencer
Artie Atkinson	CE	Tom Gorman (c)
Billy Dingsdale	CE	Cec Fifield
Stanley Smith	WG	Bill Shankland
Billo Rees	SO	Eric Weissel
Jonty Parkin (c)	SH	Joe Busch
Dai Jenkins	PR	Herb Steinohrt
Nat Bentham	HK	George Bishop
William Burgess	PR	Peter Madsen
Martin Hodgson	SR	George Treweek
Albert Fildes	SR	Dan Dempsey
Fred Butters	LF	Wally Prigg

England, with the help of Parkin closed the gap between themselves and the Australians, with Sullivan's goal kicking giving the home team a winning margin of 9–3.^[8]

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3rd Test

England had held the Ashes for almost 20 years, and this match would decide whether they were to continue doing so.

The Lions	Posit.	Australia
Jim Sullivan	FB	Frank McMillan
Alf Ellaby	WG	Bill Spencer
Artie Atkinson	CE	Tom Gorman (c)
Hector Halsall	CE	Cec Fifield
Stanley Smith	WG	Bill Shankland
Jack Oster	SO	Eric Weissel
Jonty Parkin (c)	SH	Joe Busch
Arthur Thomas	PR	Herb Steinohrt
Nat Bentham	HK	Arthur Justice
William Burgess	PR	Bill Brogan
Albert Fildes	SR	George Treweek
Martin Hodgson	SR	Vic Armbruster
Fred Butters	LF	Jack Kingston

It was a freezing afternoon for the deciding test, which Australia dominated yet was still unable to put points on the board.^[9] With only a few minutes remaining and the scores locked at nil-all in the third and deciding test, Australian halfback Joe "Chimpy" Busch collected the ball from a scrum win 30 metres out and scooted down the sideline. He crashed over the try-line in the corner with England's loose forward Fred Butters on his back making a last-ditch attempt to stop him. As the corner post went flying the crowd spilled onto the field in excitement. Referee Bob Robinson looked set to award Australia the try and the game (and with it the Ashes) when the touch-judge Albert Webster emerged through the crowd (which was overflowing and allowed on the pitch to avoid crowding) claiming Busch had taken out the corner post before grounding the ball. Even though Robinson believed it was a fair try he had no option other than to rule 'no try'. The referee was reported to have said to the Kangaroos "fair try Australia, but I am overruled", while England's captain Jonty Parkin shook Busch's hand and congratulated him before the touch-judge intervened. The match finished as a 0–0 draw, leaving the series tied at one match apiece.

For the remainder of his life (he died on 29 May 1999 at the age of 91), Busch insisted he scored the try, quoted as saying "I got it down all right…it was a fair try."^[10] The corner where Busch scored the disallowed try in Swinton, was in the following decades still officially known as Busch's Corner.^[11]

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4th Test

After much deliberation the controversial decision was made to play a fourth Test a week later. This was the first and only time that a fourth test has been played on any Kangaroo tour.^[12]

England	Posit.	Australia
Jim Sullivan (c)	FB	Frank McMillan
Stanley Smith	WG	Bill Shankland
Stan Brogden	CE	Cec Fifield
Artie Atkinson	CE	Tom Gorman (c)
Tom Blinkhorn	WG	William Spencer
Billo Rees	SO	Fred Laws
Bryn Evans	SH	Joe Busch
Arthur Thomas	PR	Herb Steinohrt
Nat Bentham	HK	Arthur Justice
Billy Williams	PR	Bill Brogan
Hector Crowther	SR	Vic Armbruster
Albert Fildes	SR	George Treweek
Harold Young	LF	Jack Kingston

In this match Cec Fifield broke his ankle and was unable to play the remainder of the tour. In an enthralling and especially brutal match, the deadlock was only broken by Stan Smith's solitary unconverted try so England won 3–0, to retain the Ashes.^[13]

Wales

This was the first rugby league international to be played at Wembley Stadium.^[14]

Wales	Posit.	Australia
Jim Sullivan	FB	Frank McMillan
Steve Ray	WG	Bill Spencer
Mel Rosser	CE	Jack Upton
Tommy Parker	CE	Tom Gorman (c)
Johnny Ring	WG	Bill Shankland
Dai Davies	SO	Fred Laws
Billo Rees	SH	Joe Busch
Billy Williams	PR	Herb Steinohrt
Les White	HK	Arthur Justice
Joe Thompson (c)	PR	Bill Brogan
Frank Stephens	SR	Jack Kingston
Arthur Evans	SR	Wally Prigg
Jesse Meredith	LF	George Treweek

Notes and References

News: Tom Gorman to captain Rugby Team for England. 20 September 2013. The Barrier Miner. 24 July 1929.
News: Tom Gorman Kangaroos captain. 20 September 2013. The Courier-Mail. 8 January 2008.
Book: Murray G. Phillips. From Sidelines to Centre Field: A History of Sports Coaching in Australia. 2000. University of New South Wales Press. Australia. 0868404101. 27.
Web site: Cunneen. Chris. Hennessy, Arthur Stephen (1876–1959). Australian Dictionary of Biography. Australian National University. 7 February 2014.
Web site: Scott. Edmond. Sunderland, Harry (1889–1964). Australian Dictionary of Biography. Australian National University. 7 February 2014.
News: ANGLO-AUSTRALIAN RUGBY. 13 January 2014. The Singapore Free Press. 5 October 1929.
Web site: saints.org.uk. Les Fairclough. Players. Saints Heritage Society. 13 January 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20140113121846/http://www.saints.org.uk/home/player.php?num=15282. 13 January 2014. dead. dmy-all.
News: Goodman. Tom. League Tests nearly always grim Contests. 12 October 2013. The Sydney Morning Herald. 15 June 1946.
Web site: de la Rivière. Richard. 1929/30 Ashes Series. https://web.archive.org/web/20131021101253/http://richarddelariviere.co.uk/?p=624. dead. 21 October 2013. Thirteen. richarddelariviere.co.uk. 21 October 2013.
News: League's Grand Old Man Departs. The Daily Telegraph. 31 May 1999.
News: Youth from bush jumped straight into Test league. Daily Mirror. 11 May 1979.
Web site: The History of Rugby League. Rugby League Information. napit.co.uk. 2 January 2014.
Book: Tony Collins. Rugby League in Twentieth Century Britain: A Social and Cultural History. 2006. Routledge. UK. 0203088352. 116.
https://www.rugbyleagueproject.org/venues/wembley-stadium--old-/results.html old Wembley Stadium rugby league results