The 1963-64 Kangaroo tour was the eleventh

Kangaroo tour Kangaroo Tour is the name given to Australia 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 too ...

, during 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 competitions since the establishment of the game in Australia in 1908. Administered by the Australian Rugby League Comm ...

traveled to Europe and played thirty-six matches against British and French club and representative teams. It included three

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

against

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

for The Ashes, and three Tests against the French. The tour followed the 1959-60 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain and France and was followed by the 1967-68 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain and France.

The squad's leadership

The Australian team was captain-coached by

Western Suburbs Magpies The Western Suburbs Magpies (legal name: Western Suburbs District Rugby League Football Club Ltd) is an Australian rugby league football club based in the western suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales. Formed in 1908, Wests, as the club is commonly ...

Arthur Summons, though due to injury to Summons the test captaincy fell to

St George Saint George (;Geʽez: ጊዮርጊስ, , ka, გიორგი, , , died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was an early Christian martyr who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to holy tradition, he was a soldier in the R ...

Ian Walsh for

Ashes series The Ashes is a Test cricket series played biennially 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, i ...

against Great Britain and the first test against France.
In the five matches in which neither Summons nor Walsh played, the Kangaroos were captained by Barry Muir (against

Featherstone Featherstone is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the City of Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England, two miles south-west of Pontefract. Historic counties of England, Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, in 2011 ...

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 ...

(

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England, and the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale. In the United Kingdom 2021 Census, 2021 Census, the town had a population of 111,261, compared to 223,773 for the wid ...

), Noel Kelly (

Cumberland Cumberland ( ) is an area of North West England which was historically a county. The county was bordered by Northumberland to the north-east, County Durham to the east, Westmorland to the south-east, Lancashire to the south, and the Scottish ...

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 Australia in a then record 36 Tests and three World Cup g ...

(Pyrenees) and Brian Hambly (Les Espoirs (French Colts)).
The team was managed by

Jack Lynch John Mary Lynch (15 August 1917 – 20 October 1999) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who served as Taoiseach from 1966 to 1973 and 1977 to 1979. He was Leader of Fianna Fáil from 1966 to 1979, Leader of the Opposition from 1973 to 1977, ...

and Arthur Sparkes.

Touring squad

The ''Rugby League News'' published details of the touring team including each player's ages, weight, height and occupation.
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.
John Cleary, Ken Day, Peter Gallagher, John Gleeson and Barry Muir were selected from Queensland clubs. Earl Harrison, Paul Quinn and Barry Rushworth were selected from clubs in New South Wales Country areas. The balance of the squad had played for Sydney based clubs during the 1963 season.

Great Britain

The Ashes series against Great Britain saw an aggregate crowd of 65,286 attending the Test series. The largest attendance of the tour came during the Kangaroos 50-12 second test win over Great Britain at Station Road in Swinton with 30,843 in attendance. The largest non-test attendance of the tour was 21,284 when the Kangaroos defeated St. Helens at

Knowsley Road Knowsley Road is a former football stadium in Eccleston, St Helens, Merseyside. It was the home ground of St. Helens from 1890 until its closure in 2010. St Helens Town FC played their home fixtures at Knowsley Road from 2002 until 2010. For ...

Test venues

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

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

The Ashes series

First Test

The first

test was played at the famous

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium, currently branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE Limited, EE for sponsorship reasons, is an association football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Sta ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. Reg Gasnier ran in 3 of the Kangaroos 6 tries while his St George team mate and centre partner Graeme Langlands kicked 5 goals and crossed for his own try. In front of a small crowd of only 13,946 (in a stadium which at the time could hold up to 100,000 and earlier in the year had seen a crowd of 84,488 for the

Challenge Cup Final The Challenge Cup of rugby league was instituted in the 1896–97 and the final was contested between Batley and St. Helens at Headingley, Leeds. In the seasons during the Second World War the final was played over two legs, with the aggregate s ...

), the Kangaroos kept the Lions scoreless with Neil Fox's lone goal the only score for the home side as Australia won 28-2. ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----

Second Test

The second test at Station Road in Swinton has gone down in rugby league folklore as the "Swinton Massacre". The Kangaroos ran riot, crossing for 12 tries to just 2 from the Lions. The 50-12 win was not only the Kangaroos highest ever score against Great Britain, it also saw Australia win The Ashes in England for the first time since 1911–12 and the first time an all-Australian team (the 1911–12 squad included New Zealand players) had won The Ashes in England. British fans got a taste of Ken Irvine's legendary speed when he crossed for three long range tries while Reg Gasnier, Peter Dimond and Graeme Langlands all crossed for doubles with Langlands also kicking 7 goals for a personal tally of 20 points. Though on this day there was none better than Kangaroos lock forward Johnny Raper who while not scoring himself, had a hand in 9 of his teams 12 tries. ---- ---- ---- ---- ----

Third Test

With pride on the line as no

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

or Great Britain team had ever lost a home series 3-0 to Australia, The Lions put in a much improved performance 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 Headingley ...

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

. The

Rugby Football League The Rugby Football League (RFL) is the governing body for rugby league in England. Founded in 1895 as the Northern Rugby Football Union following 22 clubs resigning from the Rugby Football Union, it changed its name in 1922 to the Rugby Footb ...

had appointed "Sergeant Major" Eric Clay as the referee for the game. The two sides set about settling scores and the Australians felt Clay was biased. It is considered was one of the most brutal Tests ever played, with two Australians (Barry Muir and Brian Hambly) and one British player (Cliff Watson) being sent off. Muir who was sent off (for kicking) later told that he first told Clay "where to go" as he left the field, and later approached Clay after the game and said to him "You robbed us". According to Muir, Clay reportedly responded with "Barry, I've got to live here". Ken Irvine, who scored Australia's only try for the match, repeated his efforts from the 1962 Ashes series by scoring a try in each test of an Ashes series.

France

The ''Rugby League News'' published a list of match results in a February 1964 special issue. , - bgcolor="#CCCCFF" , Date , Opponent , Score , Ground , Referee , Crowd , Report , - bgcolor="#FFFFFF" , 5 December 1963 ,

Celtic de Paris Celtic de Paris were a French rugby league team from the city of Paris. The club played most games at La Cipale, Saint-Ouen, and occasionally at the Parc des Princes The Parc des Princes (, ) is an all-seater stadium, all-seater football ...

, 2 – 30 ,

Stade Pershing Stade Pershing () was a multi-purpose stadium in the Bois de Vincennes in Paris, France. It was used mostly for football matches and hosted the final of the Coupe de France on four occasions. It hosted the Inter-Allied Games in 1919 and the fir ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, , 200 , , - , - bgcolor=pink , 8 December 1963 ,

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, 8 – 5 ,

Stade Chaban-Delmas Stade Chaban-Delmas is a sporting stadium located in the city of Bordeaux, France. It was the home ground of FC Girondins de Bordeaux. Since 2011, it has also hosted matches of Top 14 rugby team Union Bordeaux Bègles. Until 2001, the stadium's ...

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( ; ; Gascon language, Gascon ; ) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde Departments of France, department, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the Prefectures in F ...

, A. Cassan (FRA) , 4,261 , , - , - bgcolor="#FFFFFF" , 12 December 1963 , Basque / Bearnaise XIII , 5 – 18 , , , 4,261 , , - , - bgcolor="#FFFFFF" , 15 December 1963 , South West France , 11 – 41 , Stade Jules Ribet, Saint-Gaudens , , 1,266 , , - , - bgcolor="#FFFFFF" , 19 December 1963 , Pyrenees , 10 – 14 , Stade Jules Ribet, Saint-Gaudens , , 2,059 , , - , - bgcolor=pink , 22 December 1963 ,

, 10 – 14 ,

Stade des Minimes Stade des Minimes, also known Stade Arnauné, is a rugby league stadium in Toulouse, France. It is the home ground of Toulouse Olympique Broncos. History Stade des Minimes has been the home of Toulouse Olympique since their founding in 1937. ...

Toulouse Toulouse (, ; ; ) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the Garonne, River Garonne, from ...

, E. Martung (FRA) , 6,932 , , - , - bgcolor="#FFFFFF" , 25 December 1963 , Rouergue XIII , 2 – 13 ,

Stade Municipal d'Albi The Stadium Municipal d'Albi is a multi-purpose stadium in Albi, France. It is currently used for rugby union as the home of SC Albi. After an expansion project completed in 2007, the stadium holds 13,000 with 8,000 seated. History Built and ...

Albi Albi (; ) is a commune in France, commune in southern France. It is the prefecture of the Tarn (department), Tarn Departments of France, department, on the river Tarn (river), Tarn, 85 km northeast of Toulouse. Its inhabitants are called ...

, , 3,780 , , - , - bgcolor="#FFFFFF" , 29 December 1963 , Languedoc XIII , 12 – 16 ,

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 US Carcassonne, Union Sportive Carcassonnaise and Elite One Championship rugby lea ...

Carcassonne Carcassonne is a French defensive wall, fortified city in the Departments of France, department of Aude, Regions of France, region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania. It is the prefectures in France, prefecture of the department. ...

, , 6,143 , , - , - bgcolor="#FFFFFF" , 4 January 1963 ,

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 ...

, 15 – 11 , Stade Jean-Laffon,

Perpignan Perpignan (, , ; ; ) is the prefectures in France, prefecture of the Pyrénées-Orientales departments of France, department in Southern France, in the heart of the plain of Roussillon, at the foot of the Pyrenees a few kilometres from the Me ...

, , 4,524 , , - , - bgcolor="#FFFFFF" , 4 January 1964 , South France , 11 – 51 , , , 889 , , - , - bgcolor="#FFFFFF" , 5 January 1964 , Provence XIII , 4 – 35 , Parc des Sports,

Avignon Avignon (, , ; or , ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of southeastern France. Located on the left bank of the river Rhône, the Communes of France, commune had a ...

, , 2,009 , , - , - bgcolor="#FFFFFF" , 12 January 1964 , Roanne XIII , 2 – 38 , , , 2,969 , , - , - bgcolor="#FFFFFF" , 16 January 1964 , Les Espoirs (Colts) , 12 – 19 , , , 2,617 , , - , - bgcolor=pink , 18 January 1964 ,

, 8 – 16 ,

Parc des Princes The Parc des Princes (, ) is an all-seater stadium, all-seater football stadium in Paris, France. It is located in the south-west of the French capital, inside the 16th arrondissement of Paris, 16th arrondissement, near the Stade Jean-Bouin (P ...

, G. Jameau (FRA) , 5,979 , 1963-64 France vs Australia 3rd Test
/ref> , -

French Tests

First test

Although

was unavailable due to injury, The Kangaroos lost nothing with pace on the wing due to the selection of South Sydney flyer and dual-rugby international Michael Cleary who 12 months earlier had won the Bronze Medal in the 100 yards sprint at the 1962 Commonwealth Games. However it wasn't enough as the tourists were defeated 8-5 by a determined French.

Second Test

Third Test

References

External links

1963-64 Kangaroo Tour at Rugby League Project
{{DEFAULTSORT:1963-64 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 Kangaroo Tour is the name given to Australia 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 too ...