The 1967–68 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain and France was the twelfth

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 ...

, and saw 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 ...

travel to Europe and play twenty-one matches against British and French club and representative rugby league teams, in addition to 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 Tests against the French. It followed the tour of 1963-64 and the next was staged in

1973 Events January * January 1 - The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 15 – Vietnam War: Citing progress in peace negotiations, U.S. ...

. The 1967-68 Kangaroo tour became infamously known as the "Bowler Hat Tour". Legend had it that a Kangaroos forward had walked through the

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exi ...

town of

Ilkley Ilkley is a spa town and civil parish in the City of Bradford in West Yorkshire, in Northern England. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, Ilkley civil parish includes the adjacent village of Ben Rhydding and is a ward within the ...

one night wearing nothing but a

bowler hat The bowler hat, also known as a billycock, bob hat, bombín (Spanish) or derby (United States), is a hard felt hat with a rounded crown, originally created by the London hat-makers Thomas and William Bowler in 1849. It has traditionally been worn ...

. Although

Johnny Raper John William Raper (12 April 1939 – 9 February 2022) was an Australian professional rugby league footballer and coach. Nicknamed "Chook", he was a lock-forward who earned a then-record of 33 Test caps in the Australia national team between ...

often jokingly claimed it was him, in 1988 on

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

television,

Dennis Manteit Dennis Manteit (born 18 February 1943 in Jandowae, Queensland) is an Australian former rugby league footballer who played in the 1960s and 1970s. In 2015, he was inducted into the Downlands College Hall of Fame for his success in international ...

claimed that he was in fact the man in the bowler hat. At the time, Kangaroo touring teams were housed in the Ilkley Moors Hotel located approximately 25 km west of

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

in an effort to not only keep down costs but also to keep players out of trouble by being located in a small town rather than a larger city.

The squad's leadership

The team was captain-coached by

Reg Gasnier Reginald William "Reg" Gasnier (12 May 1939 – 11 May 2014) was an Australian rugby league footballer and coach. He played for the St. George Dragons from 1959 to 1967 and represented Australian national rugby league team, Australia in a then ...

making his third and ultimately final Kangaroo Tour. Gasnier broke his leg during the first test at

Headingley Headingley is a suburb of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, approximately two miles out of the city centre, to the north west along the A660 road. Headingley is the location of the Beckett Park campus of Leeds Beckett University and Headingle ...

that saw him sit out the remainder of the English leg. He returned to the field in France but in a minor game against Les Espoirs in

Avignon Avignon (, ; ; oc, Avinhon, label=Provençal dialect, Provençal or , ; la, Avenio) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Vaucluse Departments of France, department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region of So ...

, he suffered a further break. This would ultimately cause him to announce his retirement from playing at the age of just 28. He later told in an interview that he never regretted his decision to retire, explaining that he had been playing rugby league virtually non-stop including juniors, junior representative games, the Sydney premiership, interstate games and international tours since the early 1950s, and felt it was about time that he started devoting more time to his family.
Having led the team in four tour matches in England,

was appointed captain for the Third Test Match against Great Britain. Raper captained the side in each of the three Test Matches in France.

Peter Gallagher Peter Killian Gallagher (born August 19, 1955) is an American actor. Since 1980, he has played roles in numerous Hollywood films. He is best known for starring as Sandy Cohen in the television drama series ''The O.C.'' from 2003 to 2007, recurr ...

led the team in three successive matches in England, culminating in the Second Test Match against Great Britain. He also was captain against Barrow, Bradford Northern and France B.
Noel Kelly captained the Kangaroos in five matches, against Cumbria, Oldham, Widnes, Swinton and Pyrenees.

Graeme Langlands Graeme Frank Langlands, MBE, (2 September 1941 – 20 January 2018), also known by the nickname of "Changa", was an Australian professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. and coached in the 1970s. He retire ...

led the team in two matches (Castleford and Catalans). Elton Rasmussen was captain in one match, against St Helens.
The Kangaroo tourists were co-managed by Jack Drewes (NSW) and Harry Schmidt (Queensland). Alf Richards accompanied the team as masseur.

Touring squad

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, along with each player's age, height and weight.
The ''Rugby League News'' published a summary of the Kanagroos
point scorers

Noel Gallagher, Peter Gallagher, John Gleeson, Dennis Manteit and John McDonald were selected from Queensland clubs. Tony Branson and Allan Thomson were selected from clubs in New South Wales Country areas. The balance of the squad had played for Sydney based clubs during the 1967 season.

Great Britain

The Ashes series against Great Britain saw an aggregate crowd of 53,353 attending the Test series. The largest attendance of the tour came during the Kangaroos 6-12 loss to Wigan in front of 22,770 fans at Central Park on 13 October.

Test Venues

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

---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----

The Ashes series

First Test

The first

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 ...

test was played at

. Kangaroos captain-coach Reg Gasnier suffered a broken leg which would keep him out of the rest of the English leg of the tour while lock forward Johnny Raper would play most of the game with a fractured cheek bone. ---- ---- ----

Second Test

The second test at

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

White City Stadium White City Stadium was a stadium located in White City, London, England. Built for the 1908 Summer Olympics, it hosted the finish of the first modern marathon and other sports like swimming, speedway, boxing, show jumping, athletics, stock car ...

saw the Australian's tie the series at one game all with a 17-11 win in front of 17,445 fans. ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----

Third Test

The Kangaroos retained The Ashes with a hard-fought 11-3 win on a frozen ground at Station Road in Swinton. It would be the 10th and last time Station Road would host an Ashes Test and the 18th and last test match played at the ground.1967 Ashes series - Game 3
/ref> According to stand-in Kangaroos captain and man of the match

, the Kangaroos had a psychological advantage in the third test after he heard Lions halves

Roger Millward Roger Millward (16 September 1947 – 2 May 2016) was an English rugby league footballer who played in the 1960s and 1970s, and coached in the 1980s and 1990s. A goal-kicking , he gained a high level of prominence in the sport in England by p ...

and

Tommy Bishop Tommy Bishop (born 15 October 1940) is an English former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1960s and 1970s, and coached in the 1970s and 1980s. He played for Blackpool Borough, Barrow and St Helens in the English Champion ...

say after walking around the Station Road ground pre-match that they did not want to play on the frozen ground. The Kangaroos, used to playing on hard Australian grounds, were in their element against a timid Lions outfit.

France

During the game against Les Espoirs in Avignon, Kangaroos captain coach

re-broke the leg he had broken during the first Ashes Test at

. Ultimately this would prove to be Gasnier's last game of top grade football and he subsequently announced his retirement from playing at the age of 28. , - bgcolor="#CCCCFF" , Date , Opponent , Score , Ground , Referee , Crowd , Report , - bgcolor=pink , 17 December 1967 ,

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, 7 – 7 ,

Stade Vélodrome The Stade Vélodrome (; oc, Estadi Velodròm, ), known as the Orange Vélodrome for sponsorship reasons, is a multi-purpose stadium in Marseille, France. It is home to the Olympique de Marseille football club of Ligue 1 since it opened in 1937, ...

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...

, G. Jameau (FRA) , 5,193 , , - , - bgcolor="#FFFFFF" , 21 December 1967 , Les Espoirs (Colts) , 7 – 17 , Parc des Sports,

, , 1,116 , , - , - bgcolor=pink , 24 December 1967 ,

, 10 – 3 ,

Stade Albert Domec Stade Albert Domec is a multi-use municipal stadium in Carcassonne, France. It has a capacity of 10,000 spectators. It is the home ground of Pro D2 rugby union club Union Sportive Carcassonnaise and Elite One Championship rugby league club Assoc ...

Carcassonne Carcassonne (, also , , ; ; la, Carcaso) is a French fortified city in the department of Aude, in the region of Occitanie. It is the prefecture of the department. Inhabited since the Neolithic, Carcassonne is located in the plain of the ...

, A. Breysse (FRA) , 4,193 , , - , - bgcolor="#FFFFFF" , 21 December 1967 ,

XIII Catalan XIII Catalan is a rugby league team from Perpignan in the Pyrénées-Orientales region of southern France. They were founded in 1934, and thus were founding members of the French rugby league championship. In 2000 their senior team merged with n ...

, 7 – 37 , Stade Jean-Laffon,

Perpignan Perpignan (, , ; ca, Perpinyà ; es, Perpiñán ; it, Perpignano ) is the prefecture of the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France, in the heart of the plain of Roussillon, at the foot of the Pyrenees a few kilometres from the ...

, , 3,000 , , - , - bgcolor="#FFFFFF" , 31 December 1967 , France XIII , 6 – 13 , Stade Municipal d'Albi,

Albi Albi (; oc, Albi ) is a commune in southern France. It is the prefecture of the Tarn department, on the river Tarn, 85 km northeast of Toulouse. Its inhabitants are called ''Albigensians'' (french: Albigeois, Albigeoise(s), oc, albig� ...

, , 2,949 , , - , - bgcolor="#FFFFFF" , 4 January 1968 , South West France , 0 – 15 ,

Stade Jules Ribet The Stade Jules Ribet is a rugby stadium in Saint-Gaudens in France. It is the current home ground of Elite One Championship side Saint-Gaudens Bears. The current capacity is 5,000 with 2,000 seated. History Rugby has been played on the site ...

, Saint-Gaudens , , 1,205 , , - , - bgcolor=pink , 7 January 1968 ,

, 16 – 13 ,

Stade des Minimes Stade des Minimes is a rugby league stadium in Toulouse, France. It is the home ground of Toulouse Olympique Broncos. History Stade des Minimes or as it is also known Stade Arnauné has been the home of Toulouse Olympique since their foundin ...

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Par ...

, G. Jameau (FRA) , 5,000 , , -

First test

Legendary Australian winger

Ken Irvine Kenneth John Irvine (5 March 1940 – 22 December 1990), also nicknamed "Mongo", was an Australian professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. He holds the standing Australian record for the most tries in a ...

broke his leg during this game. It was to be his 33rd and final test appearance for the Kangaroos.

Second Test

Third Test

References

External links

1967-68 Kangaroo Tour at Rugby League Project
{{DEFAULTSORT:1967-68 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain and France Australia national rugby league team tours Rugby league tours of Great Britain Rugby league tours of France Kangaroo tour of Great Britain and France Kangaroo tour of Great Britain and France Kangaroo tour of Great Britain and France Kangaroo tour of Great Britain and France Kangaroo tour of Great Britain and France