Soccer side angry

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 34000, 14 November 1975, Page 24

Soccer side angry

(N.Z.P..4. Staff Correspondent)

JAKARTA

“The New Zealand Football Association should be hung;, drawn, and quartered for allowing this to happen,” commented one of the New Zealand soccer side after the tour party arrived in Jakarta and found that it would not be playing the Indonesian national side.

The New Zealanders were angry and disappointed to find that they would play only two club sides.

The New Zealand manager (Mr Terry Killalea) said: “I’m disappointed we are not playing the Indonesian side, but there’s nothing I can do about it. I thought we were having two games against Indonesia, although the correspondence we had with the Indonesians only referred to two games in Indonesia and did not specifically say the national team." Mr Killalea said Indonesian football officials had told him when he arrived that they did not have an Indonesian national team “as such.”

“I asked them about the side that toured New Zealand last month and they said that wasn’t the national side, so I didn’t pursue the argument any further,” he said. The New Zealand Football Association thought it was getting the Indonesian national side for last month’s New Zealand tour — which cost the N.Z.F.A. $23,000— but it turned out to be an inexperienced under-23 team. New Zealand thrashed the Indonesians, 8-0. in the first test at Christchurch, and the second test in Auckland was called off. The Indonesians

played the New Zealand under-21 team instead. The New Zealand national coach (Mr Barrie Truman), expressing disappointment that the touring side would not be having a crack at Indonesia, said: “It just seems to me that they are scared stiff of having the national side beaten. But it will make our own players that much more determined to win.”