MARK ‘SPUDD’ CARROLL: Why England must lift to match the Kangaroos in Ashes tour

I was a skinny 13-year-old kid from Sydney’s western suburbs when I went on a tour of Wembley Stadium in 1980.

My mum Eileen is a little Pom from Manchester and I was a footy-mad teenager on my first overseas trip.

I’d only seen Wembley on TV late at night when Dad and I would stay up to watch the Aussies playing in the Challenge Cup final.

It seemed such a faraway destination and I couldn’t quite believe I was in London when we touched down at Heathrow after what seemed to be about a week’s flying.

But I had little interest in visiting the usual tourist hotspots like Buckingham Palace, Big Ben or the Tower of London.

No, the only sight I wanted to see had twin towers, a patch of lush green turf immaculately mowed and about 100,000 seats.

So, I hung on every word and photocopied the images in my mind as Dad and I did the Wembley Stadium tour.

Even though the joint was empty, it still had that special atmosphere and aura about it.

Dad filmed the whole tour on one of those old camcorders and added his commentary along the way as we climbed the famous Wembley stairs.

“My son will play here one day”, he declared, as the camera pans out to the massive and eerily quiet colosseum.

Was the old man serious or just mucking about?

Me — a schoolkid from Greystanes — play at Wembley one day?

Surely not?

Well, 15 years later, Dad’s prophecy unbelievably came true.

I played at Wembley twice in three weeks during Australia’s World Cup campaign in 1995.

The first game, which opened the tournament, was not a happy memory.

We went down 20-16 to England and the pressure was on from the get-go.

We needed extra time to beat the Kiwis in the semis, booking a return to Wembley to meet the Poms in the final.

This would prove a much better memory.

We won 16-8 before 66,000 fans in one of those pinch-me moments.

Had I really played — and won — on the most hallowed turf in world sport?

Yep, I really had.

After the game I shoved my handmade size 15 boots into the roof cavity of the dressing room, thinking they would be a nice piece of history for someone to discover one day.

The story made the papers back here in Australia and created a bit of a stir.

Three years later I was back in the UK for a playing stint with the London Broncos and found myself on another Wembley tour.

The dressing room area was locked but I asked the guide if he could open the sheds so I could retrieve my old boots.

I was shattered when he informed me the only thing that had changed since my last visit was new dressing room roofing.

So out there somewhere was some Pommy walking around in my size 15 footy boots!

Wembley, of course, has had more than a roof change in the years since.

It underwent a major transformation 20 years ago and will look a whole lot different when I take my Australian supporters’ group there on Saturday for the opening Test of the Ashes series between England and the Kangaroos.

It may look different but I’m sure the memories will come flooding back instantly.

I will be thinking of those World Cup matches and the trip I made with Mum and Dad 45 years ago.

Someone might have to hand big Spudd a Kleenex!

Things could get emotional.

AND DON’T GET ME STARTED

I’m a proud Australian through and through and obviously want to see the Kangaroos win the first Test next Saturday.

But I also want to witness a contest — and I’m not sure I will.

There was a time when the English league wasn’t that far behind the game here, but that is no longer the case.

The Super League has been going backwards at a rate of knots in recent times and I’m truly worried about the widening gap in quality between it and the NRL.

We see average NRL players go over there and absolutely kill it. Does that not tell you something?

On the flip side, Pommy players need to come out here to improve their skill base and understand the intensity needed to compete at the top level week in, week out.

They return to international duty better for the NRL experience and I hope that shows through over the next few weeks because the hosts will need to be very good to match the Aussies.

I just don’t know how you go about stopping a team featuring Reece Walsh, Nathan Cleary, Harry Grant and Cameron Munster.

Now that the Ashes series has been revived, we need its return to be a competitive one.

Otherwise, that age-old Australia-England rivalry is at risk of being replaced by newer rivalries, led by the likes of Tonga and Samoa.

Good luck, Poms.