Draw Made For Cup-Tie Soccer

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32313, 3 June 1970, Page 19

Draw Made For Cup-Tie Soccer

The announcement yesterday of the draw for the first and second rounds proper has shed the first public light on the arrangements made for the new-look 1970 Gillette Chatham Cup knock-out competition.

Sixteen area champions and the two Auckland finalists—the survivors of the record 105 teams that entered this season’s competition—will be involved in the two rounds, to be played on June 13 and 20, which will reduce the number to eight when the winners will be joined by the eight Rothmans National League clubs. These 16 teams will then be divided into four groups of four—northern, mid-North Island, central and southern. Each group will include two

; national league clubs and two zonal champions. In the case of the southern and mid-North Island sections, where each has only one national league club, Christchurch United and Gisborne City, respectively, one of the three national league clubs from Wellington will join the southern group and one of Auckland national league teams will enter the mid-North Island section. The club to move will be selected by ballot, and the national league clubs will not be seeded in the four groups. Instead, four open draws will be held, the first team out in each case being the home side to play the second, the third being at home to the fourth. These matches will be played on July 4, reducing the number of survivors to eight, at which stage all will go into one open draw, for the quarter-finals on July 25. The semi-finals will be played oh August 15, and the final, !

at the Basin Reserve, Wellington, on September 5. The $5OOO sponsorship of Gillette will be used to pay travelling expenses from the quarter - finals onwards, although certain costs will also be met for matches in the sectional open draw. The Canterbury champion will be known tonight when New Brighton and Western meet in the final at English Park, under lights. The winner will be at home to Timaru City, which has won the South Canterbury section, on June 13.

Brighton qualified after a 210-minute battle with Shamrock, thefr semi-final occupying two periods of 90 minutes and half an hour of extra time.

Western, which had overcome Technical on Saturday, will be favoured to win, if only because of the tiredness of the Brighton players. However, bqth clubs have vital southern league matches in

Dunedin on Saturday, West ern meeting St Kiida, Brighton opposing Caversham, and the last thing they will want is another bout of extra time. The draw for the first and second rounds (the first team named in each match being the home side) is:

Jun* 13.— Papatoetoe v. Whangarei, Hamilton v. Rotorua City or Whakatane Town, Eden v. Birkenhead United. Wanganui City or Wanganui Athletic v. Stratford or New Plymouth Old Boys, -Nelson United v. Grosvenor Rovers. Western or New Brighton v. Timaru City, Invercargill Thistle v. Caversham.

June 20.—Napier Rovers v. Gisborne Thistle, Miramar Rangers v. Palmerston North City, the winner of Stratford or New Plymouth Old Boys v. Wanganui City or Wanganui Athletic v. Nelson United or Grosvenor Rovers.

The photograph shows the draw being made from the trophy. From left, Messrs G. H. Moore, secretary of the N.Z.F.A., R. F. Farmer, managing director, Gillette (New Zealand), Ltd, and P. E. Killick, committee chairman.