“Trip of a lifetime!” …. the unanimous verdict of the 80 British Rugby League supporters who travelled Down Under on the OZ06 Tri-Nations supporters tour.

Organised and operated by Howes Etc, whose Managing Director David Howes is a former Great Britain Tour and England World Cup Manager, and Traveleads, current official travel specialist for The Rugby Football League, OZ06 was chosen by the RFL as the official fans’ tour package with exclusive access to the Great Britain squad.

The OZ06 supporters party were aged from 14 to 75, coming from right across Rugby League territory including Hull, Leeds, York, Castleford, Huddersfield, Cumbria, Widnes, Wigan, Rochdale, Leigh, Oldham and Bradford, plus London and Toronto.

Two-thirds of party chose to travel Down Under for the full four weeks, flying with Emirates from Manchester to Sydney via Dubai and return, taking in three Great Britain matches in Sydney, Wellington and Brisbane, plus the Sydney Final between Australia and New Zealand.

Of the 80 fans on the OZ06 tour, there was a group of six, four groups of three including three parents and child, 26 pairs of travellers either married couples or friends and 10 singletons.

A basic policy in the planning for the four weeks Down Under was to base the supporters in the venues for the weekend Test matches. It can be seen from the OZ06 daily planner that any flight and subsequent change of hotel takes a full day out of the trip. The more changes of base hotel, the more leisure time lost while in transit and the more time spent living out of a suitcase! Thus flight and coach transfers were kept to a minimum, allowing for a regular diet of organised days out to experience the hinterland of each base city.

One of the hallmarks of the OZ06 tour was the bonding which quickly established itself among the 80 tourists, spanning age groups and club allegiance, cementing friendships which resulted in a unanimous demand for an OZ06 Reunion the following January.