Galahs for Far Away Places

In 1968, DOB was selected to take part in the second "Galahs" international Australian Rules world tour, organised by Harry Beitzel.

The line-up was a who's who of footy stars of the late 60's, including Ron Barassi, John Nicholls, Graham 'Polly' Farmer, Neil Kerley, Alex Jesaulenko, John Dugdale, Peter Hudson, Kevin Bartlett (looks slightly less 'hungry' with hair), Sid Jackson, Royce Hart and Gary Dempsey.

In the Photo Gallery section, I've got some of the player bios from the official tour itinerary. My little brother and I were all smiles when DOB came home.

The team were undefeated in a six-match series of Gaelic Football against Irish sides at Wembley Stadium, London, Croke Park, Meath and Kerry in Ireland, and New York.  They also played exhibition games of Aussie Rules before each match, and another behind the Iron Curtain in Bucharest, Rumania, of all places (DOB tells me the Romanian ambassador in Australia was apparently a big Geelong fan!).

During a stopover in Rome on the way to London from Bucharest, the players had a kick at the local ground...

Caption:
If the walls of Rome's Colisseum could talk, they could tell of far tougher - and gorier - battles than Australian football.  Scene of the infamous gladitorial bloodbaths of early Rome, the Colisseum was at thetop of the Galahs' list of things to do.  And they just couldn't resist the temptation to pass a football around while they were in there.  Pictured engaged in a little handball are (from left) Essendon Ruckman Don McKenzie, North Melbourne's Daryl O'Brien and Collingwood's Robbie Farmer.