The 1920 Great Britain Lions tour was the third British national rugby league team or 'Lions' tour of Australasia, where it was winter and matches were played against the

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal A ...

and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

national sides, as well as several local teams. In Australia, the three-

Test match Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to: * Test cricket * Test match (indoor cricket) * Test match (rugby union) * Test match (rugby league) * Test match (association football) ...

series was won by the hosts. In New Zealand another three-Test series was played and won by the visitors. The tour was a success and brought in a handsome profit.

Touring squad

At the

1919–20 Northern Rugby Football Union season The 1919–20 Northern Rugby Football Union season was the 25th season of rugby league football. Season summary A full championship competition returned after suspension during the First World War as well as a full Challenge Cup campaign. Hull ...

's conclusion, the following

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It i ...

squad was assembled by the

Northern Rugby Football Union Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a ...

to represent it on the tour of Australasia. Mr S Foster and Mr J Wilson were the team managers. Although it was a Great Britain tour, the team played as 'England' during the games. England * Joe Bowers, forward for Rochdale Hornets * Joe Cartwright, hooker for Leigh * Douglas Clark, forward for Huddersfield * Billy Cunliffe, forward for Warrington * Joe Doyle, three-quarter back for Barrow * Frank Gallagher, forward for Dewsbury * Herman Hilton, forward for Oldham * Arthur Johnson, forward for Widnes *

Ernest Jones Alfred Ernest Jones (1 January 1879 – 11 February 1958) was a Welsh neurologist and psychoanalyst. A lifelong friend and colleague of Sigmund Freud from their first meeting in 1908, he became his official biographer. Jones was the first En ...

, half back for Rochdale Hornets * Alf Milnes, hooker for Halifax * Jonty Parkin, half back for Wakefield Trinity * William Reid, forward for Widnes * Arthur Skelhorne, forward for Warrington * Cyril Stacey, fullback for Halifax * Squire Stockwell, three-quarter back for Leeds * Billy Stone, three-quarter back for Hull *

Harold Wagstaff Harold Wagstaff (9 May 1891 – 19 July 1939), also known by the nickname of "Waggy", was an English professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1900s, 1910s and 1920s. He played as a and was nicknamed the ''Prince of Centres''. A c ...

( captain), three-quarter back for Huddersfield * Alf Wood, fullback for Oldham Wales * Jim Bacon, three-quarter back for Leeds * Evan Davies, three-quarter back for Oldham * Ben Gronow, forward for Huddersfield *

Danny Hurcombe Daniel "Danny" Hurcombe (14 November 1896 – 19 March 1965) was a Welsh rugby union, and professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1910s and 1920s. He played club level rugby union (RU) for Talywain RFC, and representative level r ...

, three-quarter back for Wigan * Bobby Lloyd, half back for Halifax * George Rees, player for Leeds *

Johnny Rogers John Bernard Rogers Bakker (born December 30, 1963) is a Spanish-American former professional basketball player. Rogers played college basketball at Stanford University and at the University of California, Irvine. Listed at a height of 6'10" and ...

, half back for Huddersfield * Gwyn Thomas (

vice-captain Vice-captain, alternate captain (ice hockey) or vice-skip (curling) may refer to a role in a number of sports immediately below the role of captain. The vice-captain may have a number of different roles, including substituting as captain when the r ...

), fullback for Huddersfield

Australia

The first leg of the tour was Australia, where the game of

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 11 ...

football was in its twelfth year since splitting away from

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

in 1908. The tour included places such as

Orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower *Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum * ...

, Bundaberg, Rockhampton,

Toowoomba Toowoomba ( , nicknamed 'The Garden City' and 'T-Bar') is a city in the Toowoomba Region of the Darling Downs, Queensland, Australia. It is west of Queensland's capital city Brisbane by road. The urban population of Toowoomba as of the 2021 ...

and Tamworth as well as the standard main venues of

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

, Sydney and

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line ...

Test venues

The three Ashes series tests took place at the following venues.

---- The opening match of the tour on 5 June took place between rounds 5 and 6 of the fifteen-round

1920 NSWRFL season The 1920 New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the thirteenth season of Sydney's professional rugby league football club competition, Australia's first. The introduction of a Sydney University side saw nine teams from across the ci ...

, and saw a

Metropolis A metropolis () is a large city or conurbation which is a significant economic, political, and cultural center for a country or region, and an important hub for regional or international connections, commerce, and communications. A big ci ...

(Sydney) team host the tourists at the Sydney Cricket Ground. In front of an overflow crowd of 65,000 the visitors ran out 27-20 winners. ---- ---- As the preliminary match to the

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

versus Britain game on 12 June, Sydney University's first intervarsity match against

Queensland University , mottoeng = By means of knowledge and hard work , established = , endowment = A$224.3 million , budget = A$2.1 billion , type = Public research university , chancellor = Peter Varghese , vice_chancellor = Deborah Terry , city = Br ...

under rugby league rules was played before a crowd of 60,000. Sydney won 26-14. Albert Johnston captained New South Wales in two matches against the visiting Lions. ---- ---- On Saturday, 19 June, the tourists played a match against

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , establishe ...

before a crowd of around 20,000 at the Brisbane Exhibition Ground. The Queensland side featured Mick Bennett, Neville Broadfoot, Jeff Daly, Harry Fewin, Thomas Johnson, Jack Maguire, Patrick Moran,

Claud O'Donnell Claud Augustus O'Donnell (30 January 1886 – 4 August 1953) was an Australian rugby union and rugby league player and represented his country at both sports as a dual-code rugby international. Rugby union career O'Donnell played rugby union ...

, Walter Paten,

Norm Potter Norm Potter (1893–1951) was an Australian professional rugby league footballer in the 1910s and '20s. A Queensland state and Australia national representative front-row forward, he was one of Queensland's early stalwart star players, making ...

, Bill Richards, Stan Ryan, E. Sabine, Colin Thompson, and J. Thompson. The British team was F G Thomas, J A Bacon, J Doyle, H Wagstaff, F Stockwell, R Lloyd, J Rogers, H Hilton, W Reid, G Rees, R Gronow, E Milnes and E Johnston. Refereed by L H Kearney, the visitors, after leading 13-10 at half-time, won the game 25-15. ---- ---- ---- ----

First test

The first test of the 1920

Ashes series The Ashes is a Test cricket series played between England and Australia. The term originated in a satirical obituary published in a British newspaper, ''The Sporting Times'', immediately after Australia's 1882 victory at The Oval, its first Te ...

was played on the 26th of June at the Brisbane Exhibition Ground before a crowd of 32,000. It was refereed by local whistleblower Laurie Kearney. Albert Johnston was selected to captain Australia in the opening Test of the series in the absence of champion centre Herb Gilbert. Despite a last minute reshuffling of the team which saw Johnston move to halfback. Australia won the match 8-4. ---- ----

Second test

Albert Johnston lost the Australian captaincy on Herb Gilbert's return and played at

five-eighth Five-eighth or Stand-off is one of the positions in a rugby league football team. Wearing jersey number 6, this player is one of the two half backs in a team, partnering the . Sometimes known as the pivot or second receiver, in a traditional a ...

in the second Ashes Test. The match was played on the 3rd of July at the Sydney Cricket Ground and attracted 67,739 spectators, then a record attendance for any sport at the SCG. Australian halfback Duncan Thompson starred in the match, which was won by the hosts 21-8. With this Australia secured the Ashes for the first time on home soil. ---- ----

Third test

The third Test was played on the 10th of July in Sydney, with Great Britain winning 23-13. ---- The British also played two matches against a

Newcastle rugby league team The Newcastle rugby league team is a representative rugby league football team made up of players selected from the Newcastle Rugby League's first grade clubs. Also called Newcastle Firsts, the team has been assembled occasionally since rugby leagu ...

that featured Dan "Laddo" Davies. The first game was on the 25th of August and the tourists won 17-10. The second was on the 28th which they also won 24-3. ----

New Zealand

The British team played a three-Test series against New Zealand just as it did against Australia. Karl Ifwerson captained the Kiwis against the tourists. After losing their first game to

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about ...

, the tourists won all three Tests. In the Test at Wellington, the British were behind on the scoreboard 10-0, but made it 10-6 before Douglas Clark forced his way over the line for the match-winning try which Ben Gronow converted, giving the visitors an 11-10 victory. The second Test was played in Christchurch on Saturday, 7 August, and was won by the tourists 19 points to 3. Tuesday 3rd August the touring England side played a mid week match against a King Country XIII in Taumarunui in front of a 4000 strong Crowd at Taumarunui Domain. England won easily 47-3. Wagstaffe scored twice in the first half for the visitors along with one a piece for Stockwell and Milne. Doran got one back for King Country. Half time score 16-3. In the 2nd spell, Stockwell scored 2 tries and Wagstaffe, Bowers, Doyle and Johnston one each. final score 47-3.https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/GIST19200804.2.32?end_date=30-08-1920&items_per_page=10&page=6&query=taumarunui&snippet=true&start_date=20-07-1920

References

{{Rugby League Ashes series Great Britain national rugby league team tours Great Britain Lions tour of Australia and New Zealand Great Britain Lions tour of Australia and New Zealand Great Britain Lions tour of Australia and New Zealand Rugby league tours of Australia Rugby league tours of New Zealand