City And New Brighton Best Bets For 1967 Soccer Season

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31330, 29 March 1967, Page 10

City And New Brighton Best Bets For 1967 Soccer Season

'THE 1967 inter-club soccer season starts on Saturday, with parts of the programme mapped out and the rest still shrouded in mystery- As in the last few years, the Hurley Shield will open the season, but from that point onwards nothing has been finally decided. The biggest question mark hangs over the Southern League, one of the three regional competitions approved by the New Zealand Football Association. It is not known yet whether the league will get underway in 1967, the financial aspects of the competition bogging down the proposed arrangements that have been made. The plan appears to be for the two top teams after two rounds of the Hurley Shield to qualify for the Southern League, along with the top two teams from Otago and Southland. The other six teams in the Canterbury competition will play in the O’Briens sponsored tournament should the league eventuate.

The final decision will probably rest on the outcome of discussions with a sponsor and on the successful clubs agreeing to the conditions. The clubs and C.F.A. management committee have met and discussed the matter, and the clubs have to report back to the management committee on April 11. The other question mark concerns the visit of Manchester United. The Scottish national team will definitely not be playing in Christchurch, but there is still a possibility that Manchester United will—if the C.F.A. accepts the terms offered to it by the N.Z.F.A. and if the lights at English Park have been installed in time for the match, in late May. The C.F.A. must guarantee a large sum for the fixture, between a national

team, senior or under-23, and Manchester United, a sum reported to be in the region of £2500. The exact details have not been released, the C.F.A. management com-

mittee rightly deciding to keep to itself all information until the matter has been settled between itself and the N.Z.F.A. The “on again, off again” doubts about similar matches are not to be repeated this time.

Nor have any details of Canterbury’s representative matches yet been released, although it is probable that Auckland, Wellington, Otago and Nelson teams will be seen at English Park this season.

The playing of two rounds of the Hurley Shield and the fitting in of Chatham Cup matches before the split into the Southern League will cause a build-up of fixtures, and this will have to be resolved by play-

ing matches on Sundays or under lights on Wednesdays at English Park or Rangers Park.

The successful pre-season floodlit competition at Rangers Park, which produced a high standard of football and a handsome profit for the Rangers club, has given a firm pointer to the interclub season ahead. City won the first prize with 3-1, 9-0 and 1-0 victories, while New Brighton, the promoted club from last season’s competitions, finished runner-up with 2-0 and 3-0 wins and a 0-1 defeat to City in the final.

City, with the signing of three key Western players— T. Haydon, M. Clements and C. Martin—the return of L. Sayers, from Technical, and F. Madrussen, from over-

seas, is strongly favoured to capture the Hurley Shield for the fourth, successive year. During the floodlit games, only Brighton appeared as a likely challenger.

However, last season’s Chatham Cup finalist, Western, will not be lightly discarded, for Western has a glittering past that few other clubs in New Zealand can match. In addition to its losses to City, Western also will be without its under-20 centre-half, D. Almond, who is taking his Chance in professional soccer in Melbourne. But Western has replaced Almond with last season’s Canterbury centre-half, G. Donaldson, signed from Shirley-Nomads, and again, will have its player-coach, A. Marshall, to bring the side along. New Brighton looks to be City’s greatest rival, in league and cup, and the longer the club’s professional coach, K. France, has to mould his young, enthusiastic colleagues, the brighter will appear Brighton’s hopes on the club’s return to the first division.

High School Old Boys give every appearance of being another sound team, liable on its day to upset

both City and Brighton. For a time last season the Old Boys led the first division; they may not reach such an exalted position again this season but they will never be far from it.

Of the other four. Technical and Shamrock will probably dispute the middle section of the competition with Old Boys, while ShirleyNomads and Rangers will probably be fighting to stave off relegation. In addition to losing Donaldson, Shirley also will be without the Canterbury leftback, A. Hawthorn, who has moved to Technical. These two were the mainstays of Shirley’s late rally to escape relegation last season and it

is difficult to see who can replace them. Rangers have a crop of good young players but this will be a testing season for them, with the club desperately fighting for points week after week.

The draw for the opening games on Saturday is exciting, for it brings together the floodlit finalists, City and Brighton, in the main game at English Park. It took a goal only four minutes from the end for City to decide the floodlit final, and Brighton will be determined to take its revenge.

Also, City will be looking back to the start of last season with some mixed feelings. Then it lost the floodlit final to Western but won the opening Hurley Shield game when the two clubs met in the first round only two days later. The question being asked is whether City will be on the receiving end this time? The early game at English Park on Saturday is another intriguing contest — Technical v. Western. On this match hangs a tremendous amount for both clubs. In the other matches, Rangers meet Shamrock and Old Boys play ShirleyNomads—and with thoughts of relegation intruding even so early as the first games of the season, these two matches should also provide food for thought.