Nocturnal Kangaroos

Sean Fagan of RL1908.com

On home turf the Kangaroos are now strictly nocturnal, with all their matches in Australia at night. But it wasn’t always so, with Tests during daylight hours not fading from the scene until the late 1980s.

The last occasion that the Kangaroos played an afternoon home Test was Wednesday July 20 in 1988 at Eric Weissel Oval in Wagga Wagga (NSW). In a carnival-like setting, 11,685 packed into the famous ground to watch Australia thrash the Papua New Guinea Kumuls 70-8.

Sydney’s final daylight Test had come just 11 days earlier, when Great Britain upset the Kangaroos 26-12 at the SFS, with Wigan-flyer Henderson Gill celebrating his second try and his team’s stunning victory with “a bit of a boogie” in the Aussie in-goal in.

Though the ‘Roos played against “The Rest of the World” in a night SFS match a week later, the first night Test in NSW was not until June 1990 against France in Parkes.

Night Test footy finally came to Sydney at the SFS on 24 July 1991 against New Zealand, with Australia winning 44-0.

Night-time internationals and Tests had come much earlier in Queensland.

Showing enterprising initiative for the 1957 World Cup, the ARL and QRL arranged for the France v New Zealand pool game to be played under floodlights at the Brisbane Exhibition Ground. Despite the public’s enthusiasm - 30,000 attended - it was not for another 22 years that Brisbane hosted Australia’s first night Test.

Held at Lang Park on 16 June 1979, the Kangaroos and Lions met in the opening Ashes encounter. Cheered on by 23,051 fans, the George Peponis led Aussie team demolished the Brits 35-0.

A year later Australia defeated France 17-2 in Brisbane’s final afternoon Test, before returning to Saturday nights against the Kiwis in 1982 and ’83. For the rest of the decade Tests were played on a Tuesday evening, then finally settled on Friday night in 1992 (Gt Britain) and 1993 (NZ).

The original version of this article was first published in the May 2009 Aust v NZ Test program.