Ambitious junior soccer tour

Press, 30 September 1986, Page 24

Ambitious junior soccer tour

Canterbury has for. many years been among the strongest of junior soccer associations, in terms of the quality of its under-age representative teams.

Next year, a Canterbury under 17 invitation team will undertake one of the most ambitious ventures attempted by a New Zealand junior association when it tours. Great Britain and North America.

The tour, in August and September, will include between eight and 10 matches over a four and a half week period. The team of 15 players will be coached by one of New Zealand’s most experienced, and successful, coaches, Terry Conley, while Ivan Steer and Eddie Brownlee, two men long prominent in junior soccer in Canterbury, will be manager and assistant manager respectively. Although the team is an invitation one, the majority have been Canterbury representatives, at either under 15 or under 16 level this year. The four exceptions to that rule are Stewart Smith, of Burn-

side High School, Danny McNicholl, from Cashmere, Justin Purcell, of Halswell United and Colin Evans, of Linwood High School. Six of the party were in the running for selection in the New Zealand under 16 team for the junior World Cup qualifying series in Taiwan at the end of the year. — Korosh Monsef, Gary McCosh, Andrew McDermott, all

from New Brighton, Steven Toohey, from Burndale United, Nathan Astle and Vaughan Conley, from Shirley Boys’ High School. Toohey, a distinctly promising midfielder who played for Burndale in its triumphant premier division side this season, was in line, not only for a place in the New Zealand team, but also the captaincy until he broke a leg

in the semi-final of the New Zealand under 17 trophy tournament recently. However, Monsef won selection for Taiwan, while McCosh, a younger brother of the Woolston W.M.C. senior goalkeeper, Alastair, is a nontravelling reserve. The match details for the tour have yet to be entirely finalised, but some games have been confirmed. Canterbury will play a British Columbian selection at Vancouver and probably the top club side, Cliff Avenue United, which was Canadian under 15 champion two years ago. Two matches are pencilled in for Toronto, against a state side and a Washington state team. The team will then travel to Britain, where games against the Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur youth teams, and the Walton and Hersham regional league side in Surrey are lined up. Heading north, a match will be played against the Preston North End youth side, before arriving in Scotland for games against the Queen’s

Park and Celtic under 17 sides. The last two games in England are expected to be against the Blackpool and Portsmouth youth teams. Returning through Los Angeles, in addition to sightseeing, Canterbury will play the Westlake High School side, with whom Mr Conley has an association. Vic Ireland, a former Leeds United professional, who spent several years in Christchurch involved in junior soccer, has helped arrange the British section of the tour. The initial cost of the tour was expected to be about $64,000, with billeting reducing the expense. However, the cost is sure to have risen come the middle of next year. Well over half the initial figure has already been attained through various fund-rais-ing ventures.

The other members oi the touring party are Anthony Barrett (Western), Phil Waller (Christchurch Boys’ High School), Anthony Wilson and Howard Nicholas (New Brighton), and Grant Harris (Burndale).