KEEN SOCCER TEAM IS COMING TO N.Z.

Press, Volume C, Issue 29524, 27 May 1961, Page 5

KEEN SOCCER TEAM IS COMING TO N.Z.

(From the London Correspondent ol "The Press”J

ENGLAND’S keen and youthful soccer tourists are on their way. and a lively mixture of professionals and amateurs New Zealand will certainly find them. They are undertaking a strenuous, six-weeks’ tour with matches in Singapore, Malaya and Hong Kong before they reach New Zealand. and then a final fixture in California on their way home to Britain. Bidding the team farewell at New Zealand House, the High Commissioner. Mr T. L. Macdonald, reported on the growing support for soccer in New Zealand and assured them of a warm welcome in the Dominion.

Capable Player-manager for the tour, Tom Finney, imperturbable star and veteran player for Preston North End, confesses that he does hot know what his team will face on the field: but it is pretty clear that they are capable of taking what comes. The Pacific is one of the few corners of the soccer-play-ing world in which Finney has not been before.

The party . includes the genial young' Yorkshireman. Chris Appleton. who only three weeks ago was playing half-back for Leicester City in the Wembley Cup Final—for them a glorious defeat by the super team of the year. Tottenham Hotspur. He is among those players who have already had letters from friends and supporters in New Zealand looking forward to meeting them.

Following neatly in the footsteps of his father is J. L. Lewis, the 33-year-old Walthamstow forward. The elder Jim Lewis was in the English soccer side that toured Australia and New Zealand 23 years ago. He was still playing as an amateur with Walthamstow when his son joined the club. He runs a sports shop in Walthamstow now and is football secretary of the club. Both father and son have captained the England amateur team.

For four seasons the younger Lewis played with Chelsea and is looking forward, like many of tbe other team members, to meeting again tbe former Chelsea

player. Ken Armstrong, now soccer's coaching director in New Zealand. Lewis has played previously in both Singapore and Australia. He is one of the five amateurs in the tour.

Devoted Though he was in his young days in tbe Dominion a Rugby Union man, one of the most devoted members of the party is Mr Keith de Maus, the liaison officer, who returns to New Zealand after 24 years. For the last 15 years he has been the New Zealand representative on the F.A. Council in Britain and three times representative at the conference of the International Federation of Football Associations (F.1.F.A.).

His change in allegiance is just a measure of his devotion as a sports diplomat. The F.A. members in charge of the tour are Mr L. T. Shipman and Mr J. W. Bowers. The trainer is Mr J. Gallagher, of Southampton.