100% League Network:
It’s almost 100 years since the Australian national rugby league team first came to The Willows to face Salford. Since then, the two teams have met on 11 seperate occasions, culminating in many historic and memorable moments, and playing host to some of the greatest RL players the game has ever seen. This is the story of when Harry Dally when met Sally Solly.
The first ever meeting between the two took place during Australia’s first ever tour to blighty. On 17 October 1908, the Kangaroos arrived at The Willows for the fifth game of their mammoth 46-match tour schedule. 6100 intrigued punters paid one shilling for the privilege, if only to catch aglimpse of seeing a real live kangaroo in the flesh. No really, the Australian mascot was a living, breathing, kangaroo. No men in plastic suits or furry costumes back then! Another rare delight for the local crowd was, of course. the opportunity to clap their eyes on a man whose story was already the stuff of legend. A man who is credited as being ‘the foundation rock upon which rugby league built itself in Australia’. Lining up for the Australians on that historic day was ‘The Master’—Dally Messenger.
Herbert Henry Messenger—to give his full title—was the first true superstar of Australian rugby league. His reputation forged by an attacking, creative style of play and an unerring ability to kick goals (placed and droped) from incredibly long distances. Although, one of his most crowd pleasing plays was his ability to hurdle over oncoming defenders. A convert from rugby union, Dally made his name in the centres after the switch. In 1907, as the sole Australian playing for New Zealand during the ‘All Golds’ tour, he thrilled the British crowds, encouraging five English football clubs—including Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur—to offer contract terms. These, he declined, due to a belief that association football was ‘decadent’. Messenger’s standing in the game has never waivered—this is evident by the fact of being an Australian rugby league Hall of Famer. The Dally M medal—the prestigious award given to the premier player of each NRL season—is also named in honour of ‘The Master’. If this wasn’t enough homage, a stand at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) now bears his name in recognition of his achievements in both rugby codes.
‘Salford’s punters willfully paid for the privilege, if only to catch a glimpse of seeing a real live kangaroo in the flesh. Another rare delight, of course, was the opportunity to clap their eyes on ‘The Master’—Dally Messenger.’
The Australian visitors on October 17th wore a blue and maroon hooped jersey, representing the two rugby league playing states—New South Wales and Queensland—that sanctioned the tour. (In fact, it wouldn’t be until 1930 that the local Salfordians would get a chance to see the Kangaroos in their now traditional jersey of green and gold.) Salford had there own goal kicking superstar—James Lomas, a future Northern Union touring captain who would one day take Dally Messenger on in goal kicking competition...and win—missing due to injury. This was undoubtedly a big blow for Salford, hampering their chances of victory.
Predictably, Messenger dominated proceedings; the Manchester Guardian describing him as ‘certainly the finest player on the field who got through the work of three men’. Despite this and Australia opening the scoring—with two brilliant goals kicked by Messenger from close to the half way line—Salford secured a 9–9 draw, thanks to reds’ winger Jimmy Cook squaring up the match late on.
Australia met Salford met for a second time in 1911, this time housing the lowest ever crowd for such an occassion. A paltry 4000 showed up for a December clash, which the Aussies edged 6–3. At the tour’s end, the Kangaroos boarded their boat for home with The Ashes, which they won the first time, remaining unbeaten in the tests. A decade and ‘The Great War’ passed before Salford played the Aussies again.
This time travelling under the name ‘Australasia’, Salford were designated to meet the tourists in September 1921—the curtain raiser of the tour—in front of 9000 people at The Willows. A highlight of this particular encounter was the pre-match display from the Australasian team—an unusual and dramatic sight which was described in the following Monday’s newspapers: ‘The colonials walked out on the ground in single file and immediately gave their war cry which very few understood.’
While it is now thought that this type of war cry is only the preserve of the Kiwis—who famously perform the ‘haka’—the Kangaroos, from 1908–67, also performed an Aboriginal war chant before every encounter. This was mainly to lend their touring matches an extraordinary pull, or rather, to coax as many paying speccies through the turnstiles as possible. Although the match report considered the attendance a poor turnout, claiming it ‘was rather disappointing but it must not be forgotten that Manchester with its many counter attractions is not the best Northern Union centre’
. We’re still using that excuse to explain away poor crowds today!
From the 1921 tour’s first whistle, the Reds’ antipodean opponents sent out a clear message that they meant business, by thoroughly routing Salford 48–3. It remains, by far, the Reds’ largest defeat against Australia. The Monday morning match report stated: ‘There really should have been twice as many Salford players against them for it invariably took two to stop one and sometimes three were required’
. Despite this disappointing yet expected defeat, there was at least one moment for the game’s spectators to savour: in the dying minutes, with Salford 48–0 down, Reds’ captain Willie Thomas— in what was billed as his final match after 18 years of service to the club, 12 seasons of which were as captain—went over a for a try. A fitting end to the career of a man who had played over 500 games for Salford and had lifted the club’s first ever trophy in rugby league—the Championship title in 1914. For the Australians, their win against Salford was the start of a successful trip, albeit one that didn’t involve the retention of the Ashes; however, for the Reds, it was the sign of the miserable decade to come. 10 years of which The Willows faithful were notoriously labeled as the ‘3000 mugs’.
‘A match report considered the attendance a poor turnout, claiming it “was rather disappointing but it must not be forgotten that Manchester with its many counter attractions is not the best Northern Union centre”. We’re still using that excuse today...’
In a fitting climax to the 1921 tour, with the Ashes delicately balanced at one-a-piece, The Willows played host to the third and decisive test. On a snow covered Saturday in January, the Weaste locals converged for a classic encounter that saw the Northern Union win by six points to nil, thus reclaiming the Ashes lost on the previous tour down under. Just as Willie Thomas ended a great career against the Aussies during an earlier tour, this game also saw the career end of a bonafide RL legend—the ‘Prince of Centres’, Harold Wagstaff. Captain of the great Huddersfield side that won ‘All Four Cups’ in 1914–15, and captain of two Northern Union tours to Australia, Wagstaff brought the curtain down on his glittering international career at The Willows, chaired from the field at the end of the match to cheers of delight from the crowd.
In 1930, Salford’s revival under the inspirational Lance Todd had just begun when the Kangaroos rolled into town once again. Unlike our previous meetings this clash happened at the back end of the tour and was Austrailia’s final match of their club-playing itinerary. The match took on added significance as it was just days after their drawn third test at Station Road (0–0) and just days before the hastily arranged forth test at Rochdale (the product of a quick realisation that an outcome for the series was needed). What many thought would be a run-of-the-mill end of tour match was now a game providing vital preparation for the tourists—who fielded 12 of the 13 players that played in the Station Road encounter. Thanks to this and a Todd selection hampered by injuries to key players, the visitors eased home by 21–5. A hat trick by Australian loose forward Jack Kingsto enthralled the 8000 spectators who paid towards a total of £805 in gate receipts. (For the record Great Britain won the unprecedented series decider 3–0.)
‘’‘The colonials walked out on the ground in single file and immediately gave their war cry which very few understood’’—an Australian ‘haka’’
When Australia’s tour captain Frank McMillan brought his team to The Willows in October 1933, almost double the crowd of the aforementioned 1930 match turned up. Over 15000 spectators awaited a Kangaroo team of talents: including now legendary names such as Dave Brown, Vic Hey and Wally Prigg, versus Salford—as league champions—the finest club the British game had to offer. The swelled crowd must have sensed something: as Salford captain Billy Williams lead his red charges to their first ever victory over the Australians. Salford edged ahead just before the interval and a second half Jack Feetham try managed to stretch this lead to 16-9 by the final whistle. The great Australian tour manager and journalist Harry Sunderland describing the match as ‘a beautiful game’
. The victory was credited to the ‘international form’ displayed by Great Britain test centre Gus Risman—who kicked 4 goals and expertly nullified the threat of the famous Aussie centre partnership of Hey and Brown. The skull cap wearing Brown was known as the ‘Bradman of League’, due in the large part to his extraordinary point scoring prowess for Eastern Suburbs and of course, Australia; but as the Manchester Guardian’s headline proclaimed: Risman’s ‘Superiority at Centre Turns the Scale’.
Almost four years to the day later, in October 1937, Lance Todd maintained his impressive record against the touring side. Despite terrible weather and dangerous conditions a healthy crowd of 12,000 people saw Salford triumph once again against the Aussies, this time by a score of 11–8, Salford‘s star performers being hooker Bert Day and, just as last time out, Gus Risman. Day got the measure of Australia’s no.9 Jimmy Gibbs in the scrums secured much needed ball for Salford in ‘vile conditions’.That said, it was the visitors who broke the deadlock after 22 minutes with lock forward Wally Prigg, playing in his second defeat at the Willows, dummying his way over from 25 yards out. This seemed to shock Salford into action, scoring three unanswered tries on either side of half time. The first was created by scrum-half Billy Watkins, who dribbled diagonally through the Australian line before kicking to the corner, whereupon Jack Feetham swooped on the loose ball to collect the three-pointer. Boosted by this try, Salford added a second shortly after when Barney Hudson—who’d kicked ahead and was certain to score—was awarded a penalty try after being on the receving end of body check by Australia’s full back Ward. This left Salford with a 6–3 lead at the break.
The game looked like being a romp for the home team after 52 minutes with Salford scoring a brilliant try. A thrilling passing move involving Osbaldestin, Gear and Risman created a 2-on-1 overlap with the man over being wingman Alan Edwards. Despite being tackled by winger Beaton, Risman got the ball away to Edwards—who managed to catch the ball with one hand behind his back to go over for a magnificent try. Risman added the extras from a tight angle leaving the Manchester Guardian to comment: ‘This try was rugby at its best, a glorious attack beating a good defence.’
The game was far from over though: the ‘green and golds’ managed to claw themselves to within three points with just 10 minutes to go. One scribe wrote ‘how Salford held out in those last ten minutes heaven alone knows’
. A kick from Williams bouncing of the post to safety and a last ditch tackle by the impenetrable Risman on Prigg—who had burst through the middle and seemed certain to steal the match—were just two of the late scares for the Reds; but, eventually, the final whistle went,‘and the excellent crowd cheered itself hoarse for the last time’
. The completion of this 1930s double over Australia was to be the last Salford victory against Australia, to date…
‘The great Australian tour manager and journalist Harry Sunderland described the 1933 match as
“a beautiful game”’
After the Second World War, the first tour to British shores saw a record turnout by a sporting and rugby league starved public. The Willows clash of 1948 saw a record 16,627 gate watch the Aussies emerge as 13–2 winners. Looking back, in retrospect, this game has an added significance: as almost 40 years to the day that Dally Messenger played against Salford in Weaste, a man who would later be dubbed ‘The Little Master’ lined up against the famous red men.
Clive Churchill, a diminutive New South Welshman, would be remembered as the player who revolutionised the full back’s role. A role where attacking flair was just important as defence courage, both traits of which he possessed in abundance throughout a glittering career that included captaining the Kangaroos first Ashes success in 30 years and winning 8 domestic Premierships at South Sydney—both as a player and coach. Even after retirement and subsequent premature death, the accolades for this great man continued. Churchill was named as one of the original ‘Immortals’ of Australian rugby league; he was also awarded the Order of Australia for services to the rugby league. In a striking similarity to Dally Messenger, Churchill also has a stand named in his honour at the SCG; and where as the NRL’s player of the year is awarded the Dally M medal, the man of the match in the Australian Grand Final is awarded with the prestigious Clive Churchill medal.
In the 1948 encounter, a 21 year old Churchill had a solid if unspectacular game; indeed, it would have taken someone with a great RL eye to spot the greatness he would later achieve. The 80 minutes itself was considered a rather forgettable affair, mainly due to the dirty tactics employed by both sides. The Manchester Guardian match report saying: ‘The rugby league match between Salford and the Australians at Weaste on Saturday was marred by many disgraceful incidents in which players struck or swung at each other with clenched fist or booted foot. Several of the Australians particularly the forwards often are rough and clumsy and make unpleasant use of head tackles and swinging hand offs but this was no justification for the methods of retaliation adopted by some of the Salford players… A great game is in danger of coming into disrepute.’
During this tour, the visitors completed a trio of wins against of Belle Vue Rangers, Swinton & Salford but failed to recapture the Ashes taken by Gus Risman’s ‘Indomitables’ in 1946.
As Salford missed out on tour matches for two consecutive tours due to lowly league finishes, it wasn’t until 1959 that Salford could have another crack at the Australians. The ’59 tour saw the Green and Golds arrive in Britain as the world champions—a trophy they won on home soil in 1957. Despite the 1950s being an underwhelming period to be a Salford fan, The Red Devils came mighty close to toppling the world’s very best. In one of The Willows’ games of the decade, Salford were in the process of scoring their highest-ever points total against Australia. With 10 minutes left on the clock, the score stood at 17–12 in Salford’s favour when a misplaced pass was intercepted by North Sydney Bears’ centre Brian Carlson, who raced under the posts to touchdown. Carlson added a further try and penalty to leave the visitors with a 22–17 lead. With a minute remaining and the match looking all but over, Salford’s scrum-half Jackie Brennan topped off a superb individual display with a try that left the Reds’ Syd Lowdon with the last kick of the match to level things up. His attempt sailed agonisingly wide and the Aussies—fielding just three players from full Test side—held on for a 22–20 victory. The Salford public once again maintained their comendable record of turning out to see the men from Oz, as over 11,000 came to watch and left having seen a classic. After a considerable gap between Salford vs. Australia matches, it would be another 14 years before the rivalry was re-earthed; but it was well worth the wait.
By the time the 1973 Kangaroos hit our shores, Salford had emerged as the most exciting side in northern hemisphere rugby league; and the match up against the ‘green and golds’ was unofficially dubbed as the ‘4th test’. In the intervening years since the last meeting between the two teams: Salford chairman Brian Snape assembled an array of talent—the clubs finest team for 35 years—containing the zenith of international stars such as David Watkins, Chris Hesketh, Ken Gill, Paul Charlton and Colin Dixon. Such was the anticipation of this match over 11,000 packed into The Willows—the second highest attendance of the Australians’ 19 game tour of Britain & France (only the 2nd Ashes test at Headingley got more people through the turnstiles).
Salford took a break from their league campaign—one that would bring the Championship trophy back to Weaste for the first time since 1939—after starting the season with a sequence of 9 consecutive victories. The Reds took on an Australian side that was brimming with stella names. Names whom have gone down in the annals of ‘the greatest game’. Lining up alongside Aussie legends Tim Pickup, Bob McCarthy and Tom Raudonikis were the historic trio of Bob Fulton, Graeme Langlands and Arthur Beetson. The latter three attained places in the Australian Hall of Fame are also each one of seven ‘Immortals’. That said, I bet neither Bobby, Changa or Artie moaned about the Willows away dressing rooms!
In a match befitting its status, the Kangaroos snuck home thanks to a hat-trick of scores from Fulton, all converted by Langlands, proving enough to beat a determined Salford. The home side had lead 12–10 in the second half via tries from Fielding and Holland plus three goals by Watkins, but fatigue took its toll on the Reds—who were playing their 4th game in 8 days—and in the final quarter Fulton’s last try took the game for the tourists by 15–12.
‘When the 1973 Kangaroos hit British shores, Salford had emerged as the most exciting side in rugby league. The match up against Australia was therefore dubbed as the “4th test"’
As apart of a World Cup warm up programme Salford met Australia in October 1975. Minus test stars: Watkins, Gill, Nash and Fielding, the men from Weaste were always bound to struggle. According to the Salford Reporter: ‘Australia produced a spectacle not to be missed’
. Ian Schubert produced an outstanding attacking display from full back with future Hall of Famer Mick Cronin causing havoc in the centres. The result of 44–6 was hardly surprising, and despite a young Graham Major jinking through three players for a nice Salford try and Jim Fiddler forcing himself over for another one: ‘Salford were well and truly hammered into the ground’
. Salford last match against Australia took place in 1978. A disappointing crowd of 6155 turned up to watch the world champions win by 14–2 (the solitary Salford points goaled by David Watkins). The Australian’s duly went on to clinch the Ashes series by 2–1.
Since 1978, Salford have alas missed out on matches against Australian touring side, due to a combination of adverse league positions and the almost near extinction of full Kangaroo tours. With a new ground on the horizon, we may get a future Ashes test match but certainly for the foreseeable future it seems that Salford’s current record against the Australians will remain:
| Salford’s record vs. Australia: Played 11, Won 2, Drawn 1, Lost 8 | ||||
| 14.10.1908 | Salford | 9–9 | Australia | 6100 |
| 9.12.1911 | Salford | 3–6 | Australia | 4000 |
| 17.9.1921 | Salford | 3–48 | Australia | 9900 |
| 11.1.1930 | Salford | 5–21 | Australia | 8000 |
| 21.10.1933 | Salford | 16–9 | Australia | 15,761 |
| 30.10.1937 | Salford | 11–8 | Australia | 12,000 |
| 2.10.1948 | Salford | 2–13 | Australia | 16,627 |
| 26.9.1959 | Salford | 20–22 | Australia | 11,088 |
| 30.9.1973 | Salford | 12–15 | Australia | 11,064 |
| 10.10.1975 | Salford | 6–44 | Australia | 5357 |
| 1.11.1978 | Salford | 2–14 | Australia | 6155 |
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