The Original Volleyroos – 1971 New Caledonia / Tahiti

Going through my dad’s papers, I found newspaper clippings from the very first Volleyroos trip, in 1971. I have clipped the action photos individually and the full newspaper clippings are below.

The trip was described by George Mraz in his review of 1970s Australian Volleyball Team:

The first of these international games occurred when a men’s team was invited to play in a friendly tournament in Tahiti in August/September 1971. It was more a holiday than a serious competition, but a competition none the less! A ring-around was conducted to see who was able at travel at very short notice. This required some personal expenses as well as time off work and, from memory, we did not have a lot of time to get organised. Hans Siig forgot to pack his playing shoes and had to borrow some from Bob Foot!
The trip was friendly and relaxed, with only 3 matches over 12 days. We had time to visit other islands, and generally play tourist. Three matches were played and Australia won 2 – 1.  The team was:
Ctirad Uher, George Mraz, Uldis Ozolins, Gordon Duffus, Hans Siig, John Kruk, Nick Kimov, Theo Hristakos, Jeff Wellink, Joe Hiller (coach), Wally Lebedew / Bob Foot co-managers.

If anyone would like to add some stories or photos of this trip, please comment or message me through Facebook and I will add them to the text to make an oral history.

More Volleyroos stories can be found here.