N.Z. Soccer Talks Should Be Lively

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30540, 8 September 1964, Page 17

N.Z. Soccer Talks Should Be Lively

The agenda for the halfyearly meeting of the New Zealand Football Association, to be held in Wellington on October 2 and 3, gives every indication of producing the liveliest discussion on the national soccer set-up for some years. Administration, the world tour, the Munster club’s tour of New Zealand, and the terms of contract the N.Z.F.A. holds with the professional promoter, Mr Willi Treml, appear to be the four subjects dominating the agenda. However, two other matters, simply billed as “coaching appointment” and “sponsored tournament,” details of which, have not yet been released, and "national and/or provincial leagues,” which has become, in one form or another, a hardy annual, have more far-reaching significance for New Zealand soccer. A joint request by the Auckland, Franklin and Poverty Bay associations to discuss the world and Munster tours, Mr Trend's contract and the present administration and “ways and means of remedying" it, has opened the way for the N.Z.F.A. to issue a forthright statement and “kill” the many rumours that have been in circulation since the team returned from its world tour.

Strong opposition will

come from Canterbury, and other South Island associations, to a proposal that the N.Z.F.A. introduce plural voting based on numerical playing strength in the provinces. This, the C.F.A. has stressed in recent discussions, would “help to strangle the progress of South Island soccer because it would give the North Island dominant control of the game.”