Soccer league in chaos
The Rothmans Soccer League fixture list is in a state of complete chaos. At the end of the latest round of matches, 60 games had been scheduled, and 14 had been postponed. It is probable that at the completion of round 15, bn May 30, a staggering 26 matches of the 90 which have been set down up until that date, will not have been played. . On May 30, New Zealand will play its penultimate World Cup match, against Taiwan at Auckland, and it
does not meet Fiji until August 15. The players will not return to their clubs until shortly before that final match. The chief culprits have been Wellington Diamond United, .... Gisborne City, Manurewa and Christchurch Mogal United. W.D.U. played just once in the first five rounds. It was granted a dispensation by the New Zealand Football Association as it had a strong representation in the national under-19 team
which went to South America. Gisborne City, the league leader, and Manurewa will both miss the next five rounds through World Cup commitments, while United missed its last ■ three matches, including two local derbies, fot the same reason. Just where these matches are to be fitted in is not clear. Some can be slotted in as mid-week fixtures, but there seems no way to avoid a lengthening of the season, well into September.
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Press, 29 April 1981, Page 42
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228Soccer league in chaos Press, 29 April 1981, Page 42
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