The 1924 Great Britain Lions tour was a tour by the

Great Britain national rugby league team The Great Britain national rugby league team represents Great Britain in rugby league. Administered by the Rugby Football League (RFL), the team is nicknamed The Lions. For most of the 20th century, the Great Britain team toured overseas, p ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

and

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

which took place between May and August 1924. The tour involved a schedule of 27 games; 18 in Australia, including a three-test series against

for

the Ashes 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, ...

and a further nine in New Zealand, including a three-test series against

. Captained by Jonty Parkin, the Lions returned home having won 21, and lost six games. They won the Ashes against Australia by two tests to one, but lost two out of three tests against New Zealand. Despite being classed as Great Britain with the presence of Welsh players, the team actually played the tour listed as England.

Squad

An initial 20-man squad for the tour was named on 27 February 1924, with six additional players being selected in the following weeks.

Wakefield Trinity Wakefield Trinity is a professional rugby league club in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England. The club play their home fixtures at the DIY Kitchen Stadium, Belle Vue (Wakefield), Belle Vue and currently compete in the Super League, the top tier o ...

scrum-half Jonty Parkin was appointed as captain. The two team managers were J. H. Dannatt of Hull and E. Osborne of

Warrington Warrington () is an industrial town in the Borough of Warrington, borough of the same name in Cheshire, England. The town sits on the banks of the River Mersey and was Historic counties of England, historically part of Lancashire. It is east o ...

Schedule and results

The majority of the touring party departed from

Tilbury Tilbury is a port town in the borough of Thurrock, Essex, England. The present town was established as separate settlement in the late 19th century, on land that was mainly part of Chadwell St Mary. It contains a Tilbury Fort, 16th century fort ...

on 11 April 1924. Due to their involvement in the 1924 Challenge Cup final, the nine players selected from Wigan and Oldham travelled overland and joined the ship at

Marseille Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...

. The team arrived in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

on 20 May. The team departed New Zealand aboard the RMS ''Tahiti'', returning home via America.

References

External links

Lions Tour 1924
at Rugby League Project {{Rugby League Ashes series Great Britain national rugby league team tours Great Britain Lions tour Great Britain Lions tour Great Britain Lions tour Rugby league tours of Australia Rugby league tours of New Zealand