Club Side Keen To Tour

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32114, 9 October 1969, Page 19

Club Side Keen To Tour

The top Hong Kong soccer club side, Jardines, is keen to play a number of games in New Zealand at the end of its northern season next year.

In a letter to toe New Zealand Football Association, toe Jardines club, which

beat the New Zealand World Cup side, 4-1 last month, said it was interested in playing about six or seven matches in New Zealand in May. The chairman of the N.Z.F.A. and manager of the World Cup team which played Jardines, Mr J. Cowie, said yesterday that he personally would welcome the prospect of toe Hong Kong club touring this country. “They are a very good side and would be quite a drawcard here,” he said.

“They play an entertaining brand of football and would be first-class opposition for some of our teams.” But Mr Cowie said that the actual visit depended on whether satisfactory financial terms could be arranged. “1 understand that they would bring a party of about 16 players and would be available to play three games a week,” he said. Mr Cowie said that the club adopted a very professional outlook toward its big games.

“They were all on large incentive bonuses to beat us,” he said. “In fact, their captain picked up 5HK2500.”

In the letter to the N.Z.F.A., the club praised the sporting attitude of the New Zealand players in the match at Hong Kong. “We wish to mention that your team had demonstrated to the Hong Kong public the fine sportsmanship which is lacking in most of the visiting teams and in our own sports circle,” the letter said.