The 1952–53 Kangaroo tour was the eighth

Kangaroo tour Kangaroo Tour is the name given to Australian national rugby league team tours of Great Britain and France, tours to New Zealand and the one-off tour to Papua New Guinea (1991). The first Kangaroo Tour was in 1908. Traditionally, Kangaroo Tours to ...

, in which the

Australian national rugby league team The Australian National Rugby League Team, the Kangaroos, have represented Australia in senior men's rugby league football competition since the establishment of the 'Northern Union game' in Australia in 1908. Administered by the Australian ...

travelled to Great Britain and France and played forty matches, including the

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 ...

of three

Test matches 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) ...

against

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 is ...

and three Test matches against the French. It followed the tour of 1948-49 and the next was staged in 1956-57.

The squad's leadership

The team was captained by

Clive Churchill Clive Bernard Churchill AM (21 January 1927 – 9 August 1985) was an Australian professional rugby league footballer and coach in the mid-20th century. An Australian international and New South Wales and Queensland interstate representative ...

with Frank Stanmore as vice-captain. Tour co-managers were Doug MacLean and

Norm Robinson Norman "Latchem" Robinson (17 October 1900 – 18 March 1980) was an Australian professional rugby league footballer, coach, selector and club administrator for the Balmain Tigers club in Sydney and a City, State and National selector and mana ...

. In the matches in which neither Churchill nor Stanmore played, the Kangaroos were captained by

Duncan Hall Duncan Hall (24 August 192518 January 2011) was an Australian rugby league footballer who played in the 1940s and 1950s, singled out as having been amongst the greatest of the 20th century. He played in the Brisbane Rugby League premiership f ...

on 4 occasions (Wigan, Swinton, Dewsbury, and Selection de Midi) and Albert Paul on 3 occasions (French Selection, French Selection, Paris-Lyon). Three players captained the team in one match:

Keith Holman Keith Victor Holman, MBE (11 September 1927 – 11 October 2011) was an Australian Rugby League footballer, a national and state representative whose club career was played with Western Suburbs from 1949 to 1961. He has since been name ...

(Doncaster),

Ferris Ashton Ferris Arthur Ashton (21 August 1926 – 29 January 2013) was an Australian rugby league footballer who represented his country in 8 test matches. Ferris was also a member of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) during the Second World War. Club c ...

(Wakefield Trinity) and Noel Hazzard (French Selection).

Touring squad

The ''Rugby League News'' published
photo
and details of the touring team including the players' ages, weights, heights, and occupations. Match details - listing surnames of both teams and the point scorers - were included in ''E.E. Christensen's Official Rugby League Yearbook'', as was a summary of the players' point-scoring.
Crocker, Davies, Flannery, Hall, Hazzard, McCaffery, McGovern, and Rooney were selected from Queensland clubs. Carlson, Duncan, Gill, Paul, and Wells were selected from clubs in New South Wales Country areas. The balance of the squad had played for Sydney-based clubs during the 1952 season.

Match Results

The touring party departed the eastern states before the conclusion of the

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, Brisbane and various regional competitions. On July 27, 1952, they played a match against

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

in Perth, winning 883. Travelling aboard the , the team arrived in England on August 24, 1952. Australia played 27 matches in England before moving in mid-December to France for a further 13 matches. ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----

1st Test

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2nd Test

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3rd Test

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1st Test

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2nd Test

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3rd Test

---- ---- ---- The tourists returned from France to London to meet the , departing England on the evening of February 2, 1953. The ship arrived in Fremantle on March 6 and to Sydney on March 17. The players were welcomed home by local League authorities.
A team selected from the touring Kangaroos played a match against ''The Rest of Australia'' on April 15, 1953. The Kangaroos won 33-21.

Sources

References

External links

1952-53 Kangaroo Tour at Rugby League Project
Australia national rugby league team tours Rugby league tours of Great Britain Rugby league tours of France

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