Soccer's $26,000 experimental N.Z. league begins on Saturday

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32266, 8 April 1970, Page 13

Soccer's $26,000 experimental N.Z. league begins on Saturday

(By

D. P. MANSBRIDGE)

VEW Zealand soccer will begin this week-end a venture which, If a resounding success, might bring about a sports revolution in the country. It would raise soccer several notches in its standing with the public and bn the national sporting scene, and would undoubtedly lead other codes to consider a similar competition. The Rothmans National Soecer League is starting in throe centres on Saturday as the eight initial entries, already labelled the code’s ‘Tathfinders,” open a programme of home-and-away matches which, in travelling expenses alone, will cost a total of more than 826,000. Its success or failure ultimately rests on gate money, for it is only at the turnstiles that the clubs can meet the huge commitments they have taken on. Some have gained sponsors, one has sought publie support through the issue of shares and the backing of four other clubs, and others have relied on hard-working officials and members to raise their funds. But unless they can reward these enthusiasts with greatly increased attendances, nothing will have been gained and a tremendous amount lost. Yet, it is with no sense of failure in their minds that the clubs and their national administrators have entered this venture. Even before the competition has started, plans for the future of the national league have been made, to the increasing of the league to 10 teams in 1971, and the consideration bf starting a second division in 1972.

The “Pathfinders” comprise three Auckland clubs —Mount Wellington, Eastern Suburbs and Blockhouse Bay, which finished in that order in last year’s northern league, Suburbs also winning the Chatham Cup for the second successive year; three from WellingtonWestern Suburbs, Stop Out and Hungaria first, second and fourth, respectively, in the 1969 central league, and one each from Canterbury (Christchurch United, the team formed by four senior elubs) and Poverty Bay (Gisborne City), which, under Its former name of Eastern Union, has been probably the most enterprising club In New Zealand soccer. The eight clubs have gathered into their folds most of the leading players in the country, and apart from those who have recently left the country to take their chance in Australian soccer have almost the entire World Cup squad that played in Israel. The first league programme (home team first) is: Christchurch United v. Blockhouse Bay, Eastern Suburbs v. Hungaria, Stop Out v. Gisborne City, Western Suburbs v. Mount Wellington. In the past, the only times that these clubs could have met, apart from in “friendlies,” was the North Island final or the national final of the Chatham Cup. Now, every move each makes, the players each gains and the matches each win, will be of vital importance to the others and their supporters. Blockhouse Bay comes to English Park next Saturday under a changed name— Auckland United (Blockhouse Bay), which the club

has finally been permitted to use. So that its first match has all the ingredients of a Christchurch v. Auckland clash in name now, as well as in fact

Blockhouse is coached by the former New Zealand captain, B. Ormond, and has another Onnond in the side, the coach’s son, lan, who recently returned from a successful two years playing in British professional soccer. It has, too, other outstanding players—G. Lake and C. Shaw, both internationals, C. Campbell, M. Seed, G. Root and J. Batty, all of whom have represented Auckland many times.

Christchurch United boasts more star names—the internationals, G. Griffiths, D. Phillips, G. Davis, T. Haydon, V. Pollard and D. Torkington, and an even longer list of Canterbury representatives. And it has, also, an equally renowned coach in the former English professional and present New Zealand selector, G. Evans. The glamour side of the eight, though, is undoubtedly Eastern Suburbs, and with such players as J. WrathaU, P. Rennell, J. Staines, W. de Graat and R. Mears from its last year’s team, and new signings in C. Latimour and G. York, both from Ponsonby—all inter-

nationals—the Auckland club should be able to set a pace difficult for most others to maintain. Nevertheless, Suburbs will be hard-pressed to beat Hungaria if the Wellington club quickly settles into its smooth, enervating stride. Hungaria te probably the club most soccer followers will want to see, for its style of play and tempestuous past combine to make it a great attraction. The meeting of Stop Out and Gisborne possibly has less novelty than the other three games, for they have regularly clashed in the central league. But both teams this year have gained new players—M. Carre, G. Brand and F. Lennox having moved to Stop Out, and G. Gourdie, formerly in Invercargill, M. Davis, after two years in Britain, and R. Dunn, a former British professional, strengthening the Gisborne team which already has the internationals, T. Francis and M. Bland. Mount Wellington and Western Suburbs, champions of the northern and central leagues, respectively, for the last two years, have done less team building in the closed sea-

son than the others, but they may have felt it unnecessary. Both have outstanding players and a strong team spirit built up over recent years. Mount Wellington’s most notable capture has been the former New Zealand goal-keeper, N. Siebert, who has thus joined two other internationals, G. Lamont, the player-coach, and E. Thomas, who turned down an attractive offer to play in Sydney to remain with the club. The fact that there will be $7500 at stake in prize money ($4OOO for first, $2OOO for second, $lOOO for third, $5OO for fourth) will provide an even greater incentive to the clubs, if acknowledgement as the champion soccer team in New Zealand is not enough. The judgment of whether the league has been a success or failure will not be gauged on the first day's programme, not even the first season's competitions. No-one expects a spectacular surge of public support but all are hoping for a significant increase in match attendances and a swift raising of the standard of football.