BY CURTIS WOODWARD

@woodward_curtis

On the eve of the 1995 State of Origin series and his fame reaching rockstar levels thanks to The Footy Show, Queensland coach Paul “Fatty” Vautin jumps into a hotel elevator after doing another round of media – desperately trying to promote his underdog Maroons as some sort of chance without a long list of Super League-contracted players.

Vautin takes a deep breath and enjoys a moment of peace.

A beer and a punt probably not far from his mind.

But the former Manly-Warringah skipper’s bliss is shattered by the sound of what appears to be a Maroons fan who has slipped his way into the lift.

“G’day Fatty!” a baby-faced 18-year-old greets Vautin, “I’m Ben Ikin.”

The great larrikin had zero idea who Ikin was or the fact the Gold Coast Seagulls rookie had just been selected in his Queensland side to play Phil Gould’s Blues.

It’s a great yarn told many times but isn’t the first of its kind for it also happened more than 70 years ago when a bemused Wallabies captain-coach Trevor Allan heard the news that a Kiwi sprint champion had been selected on the wing for the Australian side.

As the Wallabies trotted out for training at the Gabba, a 21-year-old stranger walked onto the field after just arriving from Melbourne.

Little known sprinter Ernie Hills, now based in Victoria and playing for the Melbourne Rugby Club was Wallaby 373.

Allan, struggling with a leg injury, tested Hills during the session and ran at him several times.

A ‘test’ before the Test.

In 1950, Hills played two games against the British Isles.

Not bad for a kid that once smashed his leg in three places after falling off a motorcyle and was told he may never walk again.

Doctors said best scenario was he’d have to put up with a limp.

Refusing to accept what he had been told, Hills started running.

Before long, a 19-year-old Hills clocked the “100” in 10 seconds flat.

Days after his second Test, at the Sydney Cricket Ground, Hills was on the cusp of switching codes and playing rugby league in England but soon received news his brother had joined the New Zealand Army and headed for Korea.

Hills knocked back the offer from rugby league and followed his brother, Jack, into war.

“Wallaby enlists for Korea” a headline in a newspaper explained at the time.

“Australian and Victorian Rugby Union wing three-quarter last year, New Zealander Ernie Hills has volunteered to serve in the Dominion’s Korean force,” the story read.

“Hills returned to Auckland from Melbourne last December a day too late to see his brother Jack leave with the first. K. Force contingent.

“He hopes to see him in Korea.”

He served for three years and even represented the New Zealand Army against Japan in two matches while the war went on at the invitation of the Japanese Government.

Due to sewage on the pitch, Hills almost lost his legs due to infection.

At the end of the war, Hills settled in Sydney and thought his footballing days were over.

“I was living with my in-laws at Strathfield and working in the city and one day while I was getting the bus home I read in the newspaper that Wests were paying good money to footballers,” Hills told Pratten Park Magpies.

“At that time the bus stopped outside the Old Wests club so I got off, walked over to the club knocked on the door and Lou Moses answered the door and said, ‘Son what do you want?’

“I told Lou that I had read about Wests looking for players (and) Lou said ‘What have you done?’

“I told him and he said ‘come on in’. Sitting at a large table were Ron Watson, Mark Patch, Kel O’Shea, Darcy Russell, Ian Johnston, just to name a few.

“Lou asked Ron Watson to look after me and he did.

“They were a super group of men every one of them”.

Hills played 29 games for the Magpies over two seasons and scored 19 tries.

The81stminute.com Hall of Fame

April 2024

Ernie Hills – Player, Served in Korean War
George Carstairs – Player, Served in World War I and World War II
Jack Argent – Administrator, Commanding Officer of the 2/3 Anti-Tank Regiment in WWII
Fred May – Player/Died at War

@woodward_curtis