International RL Blog

6 th  November 1948       Great Britain 17    Australia 6             Swinton Despite the baffling omission of their captain Len Smith, the Kangaroo tourists played their part in a great First Test matches as  Great Britain  won 23-21. Their form deserted them and they lost four games in a row before the Second Test at Station Road, Swinton.    Before the game, the players paid homage at the corner of the ground where Joe “Chimpy” Busch had been famously been denied in 1930 but they lost the match and The Ashes 17-6. Station Road, once again proved to be the graveyard of the Aussies as it hosted another British Ashes triumph. A 23-9 win for  Great Britain  at  Bradford  resulted in only the second ever whitewash in Ashes history. Sadly Station Road, Swinton is a now a housing estate.

I have just discovered these two photos of an empty Station Road just before it was demolished. This "graveyard of the Aussies" is now an anonymous housing estate on the outskirts of Manchester but I prefer to remember it in its full glory hosting Rugby League Tests Matches and full to the rafters. It's an indication of how times changes and it's also very very sad. Not very far away is the City of Salford Stadium which was built at considerable expense by Salford Council as the home ground of Salford City Reds and it's opening was supposed to herald a new dawn for the club. The council have now withdrawn their support and the future of the club is now in serious doubt. This is understandable in these harsh economic times and is also very sad but it begs the question, why did the council build the stadium in the first place? Surely the stadium will be a white elephant if Salford Reds go out of business. Surely it was all or nothing i.e. no support no st...

I was born in Salford and worked for many years within the City but after a long absence I returned there recently for a brief visit. In reality, I visited Swinton which is a separate location within the City of Salford and is home to a small but busy shopping centre and the administrative offices of Salford council. Famous Salford resident LS Lowry, who painted famous pictures of "match stalk men and match stalk cats and dogs" was actually a life long resident of Swinton and lived on Station Road nearby. Swinton, and particularly Station road, are also famous for a Rugby League team who were once one of the biggest names in the game and in 1927/28 were one of only three clubs to win all four cups played for in one season. Their successful team of the 1960's won the Championship twice with stars such as Alan Buckley, John Stopford and Ken Gowers. Station Road was the venue for numerous international matches between Great Britain and other nations in particular Australi...