A SAINTS' all-time great whose bone-crunching tackling found him dubbed 'the Wild Bull of the Pampas' by Aussies almost 40 years ago has made a nostalgic return Down Under.

Loose-forward legend Vinty Karalius and his wife, Barbara, made the 12,000-mile trip to the scene of Great Britain's 1958 Ashes-winning triumph as the 'mystery guest' at the opening of an extension to the Western Suburbs club.

And they were also wined and dined by Glen Dwyer, a schoolmaster and director of Metropolitan Cup winners Newtown, who are based in Sydney

Now living in Port St. Mary, Isle of Man, with his St Helens-born better half, Vinty - who reached pension age recently - is a self-made millionaire following a business career in engineering and scrap metal.

The couple have two daughters, Stella -who is a doctor - and Diane, with three grandchildren completing the Karalius happy family circle

Vinty was accorded a rapturous welcome on only his second reappearance in Australia and, on the night before the ARL Grand Final, was guest-of-honour at a memory-jerking get-together at the NSW Leagues Club, which gave Vinty chance to relive many old battles with the Kangaroos.

"I didn't speak to them in my playing days!" chuckled Karalius, "but it was nonetheless great to rub shoulders again with the likes of Kel O'Shea, Noel Kelly, Keith Holman, Peter Dimond and Tommy Raudonikis," who regarded Vinty as the hardest of them all. Now knee-deep in nostalgia, Karalius rolled back the years yet again in jetting to the Gold Coast to be re-united with Cumbrian Dick Huddart, who packed down with Vinty both at Saints' and Test level in those stirring days of the late 1950s and early 60s.

Inevitably, the arrival once more of Karalius on Australian soil aroused considerable media attention, and the revered ex-British Lions Number13 was no less forthright than in his playing days.

"Test matches are like nuclear wars in that there are no prisoners - only survivors!" declared Vince.

"Rugby League is a game for men, there has to be a bit of 'stick' otherwise we would all end up playing basketball. I love hard games," added Vinty, who joined Saints from Widnes amateur rugby in 1951.

One of four brothers to play professional rugby _ Terry, Dennis and Tony were the others , Vinty earned Challenge Cup winners medals against Halifax in 1956 and Wigan in 1961, when he captained the Knowsley Road side.

He also won league championship and Lancashire Cup medals with Saints before joining his native Widnes in 1963 and captained the Naughton Park side at Wembley when Hull KR were beaten 12 months later. Moving over to coaching, Vinty was in charge of the Chemic's teams that lifted the trophy against Wigan in 1984 and Warrington in 1975 - thus achieving a nap-hand of Wembley successes, and he also enjoyed a coaching spell at Central Park.

Fit-as-the-proverbial fiddle at just 12 stone (he was 14-plus in playing days) thanks to regular work-outs in the gym and morning runs on the beach near his home, Vinty Karalius, like so many of his contemporaries, is deeply concerned for the future of Rugby League, most of which he watches on television.

In particular the switch to summer rugby ('there are too many counter-attractions'), and he also believes News Corporation will drop the code like a hot brick if it does not merit Rupert Murdoch's financial outlay.

However Vinty's main 'beef' is with the game itself because, in his view, it is nowadays the product of a boring, structured pattern of five tackles and a kick.

Karalius believes the element of unpredictability and the excitement that generates is sadly missing today; abhors four-man 'gang' tackles and forwards who tuck the ball under the arm and never think of passing.

Strong words maybe, but ones that must be listened to from a Vincent Peter Patrick Karalius who is named in the dream team chosen by his Kangaroo arch-rival and friend-to-this-day Johnny Raper.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.