Jonty Parkin became the first player to be selected for three Lions tours when he was named captain of the 1928 tour, but injuries limited the Wakefield Trinity ace to just four appearances on tour.
In his absence with a broken thumb, Jim Sullivan of Wigan captained the Lions to a 15-12 victory in the first Ashes Test played in Brisbane, where Australia wore their green and gold strip for the first time, having previously played in the maroon and sky blue colours of Queensland and New South Wales.
Parkin returned for the second Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground, where heavy rain and a cloying mist made for muddy, difficult conditions. Parkin, who played much of the game having broken his thumb again, grabbed Britain’s first try, and the prolific Alf Ellaby of St Helens added a second to steer the Lions to a hard-fought 8-0 win and Ashes glory.
The dismissal of Wakefield loose forward Bill Horton for flattening Australia’s Jack Kingston saw the Lions lose the third Test 21-14.
The New Zealand leg of the tour was the busiest so far with nine matches played in total, including an exhibition match in the country’s most southerly city, Invercargill.
The Lions lost the first Test 17-13, leading acting captain Sullivan to vehemently protest about the performance of the referee, which caused anger across New Zealand. A different referee was appointed for the ill-tempered second Test in Dunedin, which the Lions won 13-5 with tries by Ellaby, Swinton’s ‘Billo’ Rees and Frank Bowen of St Helens Rec, plus two goals from Sullivan.
A capacity crowd of 21,000 turned out to see the series decider in Christchurch where the two nations combined to play out a high quality, epic Test match that featured 64 scrums.
It was won 6-5 by the Lions courtesy of tries by St Helens centre Les Fairclough and Tommy Askin, the Featherstone Rovers centre who finished off a scintillating move begun by Parkin that featured slick handling by Rees.
The Lions sailed home via Fiji, Hawaii and Canada, where they played two exhibition matches against Wales, winning 30-17 in Vancouver and 21-18 in Montreal.
The tour was again a financial success, with the players each receiving a bonus of £136 each, which was equivalent to the annual wage of a working man in Britain that year.
Tour Summary
| Played | 24 |
| Won | 18 |
| Drawn | 1 |
| Lost | 5 |
| For | |
|---|---|
| Tries | 122 |
| Goals | 96 |
| Points | 558 |
| Against | |
| Tries | 59 |
| Goals | 57 |
| Points | 291 |