Bland Costs3ooFor One Game?

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32362, 30 July 1970, Page 19

Bland Costs3ooFor One Game?

(By Our Soccer Reporter)

Although the New Zealand World Cup player, M. Bland, qualified to play for the Auckland club, Eastern Suburbs, in last Saturday’s Gillette Chatham Cup quarter-final, it is unlikely he will be able to play for his new team again this season, other than in friendly matches.

And if this should prove to be the case, Eastern Suburbs will have paid out $3OO to Gisborne City for Bland’s transfer for one match, when the club would probably have got him for nothing at the end of the season.

Bland’s two-year contract with Gisborne was due to expire in September and he would then have been free to imove to another club. How-

ever, by breaking his contract six weeks before it was completed, Brand became eligible for a transfer fee. Ironically, Bland failed to bring Suburbs immediate success; his club, winner of the trophy for the last two years, was knocked out by Blockhouse Bay by a corner in extra time, the score being 2-2 at the end of 90 minutes. Even so, Eastern Suburbs probably are not unhappy with the arrangement. They now have the most dangerous ' striker on their books, all ready for the 1971 season. Had the transfer been de- ; layed until the end of the . season Suburbs would probably have became embroiled with other clubs in a player 1 auction and the price of $3OO ; they paid might have been i doubled in such circumstances. Bland was available for the t Chatham Clip last week be- ■ cause he had not played in i the competition for Gisborne > this season owing to injury. ■He qualified for Suburbs,

under the ruling that a player must have made two appearances for a club before being eligible to play for it in the cup competition, by playing twice on the same day, the previous Saturday, for Suburbs lower grade teams. However, in the national league, there is a ruling that a player cannot appear for two national league clubs in the same season unless there are exceptional circumstances. Bland’s transfer to Eastern Suburbs is unlikely to meet this qualification. COACH INJURED Western Suburbs, the Wellington national league side, has suffered an unfortunate loss—its talented playercoach, I. Kiss. He suffered broken ribs in a car accident and will be out for the rest of the season. However, Kiss, on the sideline last Saturday, had no cause to bewail his club’s misfortune. when Western outplayed Mount Wellington, 3-1, in the cup quarter-finals. The former New Zealand inter-

national, D. Wallace, has taken over as player-coach until Kiss recovers. STRENGTHENING TEAM St Kilda-Morning ton, Otago’s leading candidate for the national league play-off series at the end of the season, and the most dangerous rival of New Brighton, has gained a sponsor for the rest of this season—Mutual Travel Service. St Kilda is also hopeful of further strengthening its team to win the southern league championship, despite the fact that the transfer deadline was June 30. Earlier, it had recruited players from Dunedin City, one of those in the combination for national league purposes. Now, it wants to sign two key players from Northern, the third team in the group, and has asked for special dispensation from the Otago F.A. Among the Northern players who would considerably bolster St Kilda’s attack is the South Island representative, R. Neilson.