50 YEARS AGO TODAY... US FOOTBALLERS KICKED OFF DOWN UNDER!

Monday 26 May marks a very special anniversary for US sport although few Americans will know about it. For it was on 26 May 1953 that an American team played its first ever game of Rugby League Football as it warmed up for its historic and ground-breaking tour of Australia and New Zealand.

Sporting entrepreneur Mike Dimitro recruited a squad of football players from Rose Bowl finalists Stanford, USC and UCLA and several pro teams - including a future NFL Championship winner, a Hollywood stuntman and an Olympic decathlete - and took them on the trip of a lifetime, a three-month, 30-odd game tour down under. He called them the "American All Stars", because every player was a star at one sport or other. What he didn‚t mention was that they would be playing Rugby League when they got there - none of his men had even heard of the 13-man code, let alone played this brand of football before! They didn‚t need helmets or pads - just strength, speed and skill.

And yet, miraculously, they were such fine athletes that they managed to compete with some of the world‚s best teams, shocking the natives with some superb displays and even winning a handful of games against all odds.

The players became stars everywhere they went, as post-war Australia and New Zealand went wild for the exotic footballers from places such as Honolulu, Alabama, Ohio and Beverley Hills. "We had to move hotels, the girls were going crazy!" recalled former Stanford player Jack Bonetti, struck down by polio in the Australian tropics.
And some impressed so much that they were offered pro deals to stay on and play Rugby League in Oz - Al Kirkland playing a season at the highest level for Parramatta Eels and then English club Leeds.

On 26 May 1953 the US All Stars played Royal Australian Engineers in Casula, New South Wales, in their first ever match of Rugby League. They had been in the country a week and had been practising twice a day. Astonishingly, they won, 41-10! The next day, they beat Southern Districts 34-25 in Canberra. Word spread like wildfire and by the time they played Sydney on Saturday 30 May, 65,000 were there to see the new American sensations!
The stories these men have to tell are astonishing, funny and remarkable. The fact that most of them never played Rugby League Football ever again makes that trip even more special. They still have the photos of themselves lined up for the national anthem in Sydney, wearing gridiron pants and star-studded shirts while their superstar opponents looked on bemused and amused!

Sportswriter Gavin Willacy is currently researching a book about the Stars of 53 called NO HELMETS REQUIRED, which is due to be published early next year. To find out more, to be kept informed of publication etc., or to become a subscriber (a show of your support for the project by pre-ordering the book and having your name listed in the book) email He is keen to hear from anyone who was at any of the US Allstars matches and/or was involved in their tour. Also, to find out more, to be kept informed of publication etc., or to become a subscriber (a show of your support for the project by pre-ordering the book and having your name listed in the book) email gavinwillacy@hotmail.com

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