TOURING AUSTRALIANS.

Wairarapa Age, 30 July 1936, Page 4

TOURING AUSTRALIANS.

CIVIC WELCOME BY MAYOR YESTERDAY. VALUE OF VISITS STRESSED. There was a large and representative attendance at a civic welcome extended to the visiting Australian Association Football team by the Mayor, Mr. T. Jordan, in the Municipal Chamber* yesterday. In extending a warm welcome to the Australians on behalf of the town and district, Mr. Jordan said that no visitors were more welcome to this country than “our brothers from across the Tasman.” With the development of aviation he foresaw New Zealanders and Australians becoming even closer neighbours. New Zealand and Australia had common difficulties and common dangers and by meeting frequently he felt they could do much to make common cause in meeting those difficulties. Association football, he added, was in its infancy in the Wairarapa and for some reason or other the code had not been taken up here as it deserved to be. He hoped, however, that the visit by the Australians would give the game a much-needed impetu*. The public of the Wairarapa would be given an opportunity that afternoon to see a really fine touring combination in action and the Wairarapa team would have a chance of becoming famous by defeating the unbeaten Australian*. Mr. Jordan said tfcey would look forward to further visits from the Australians and he trusted that their tour of New Zealand had been most happy. In the unavoidable absence of Mr. G. D. Wilson, chairman of the Management Committee of the Wairarapa Rugby Union, from whom an apology was received, the president of the Union, Mr. W. G. Lamb, briefly welcomed the visitors and said that th* Rugby Union as a body had alway* looked with a friendly eye on the Soccer code. There was, he felt, plenty of scope in New Zealand for all football codes. Mr. R. J. Weir, chairman of the Wairarapa Football Association, said the occasion was a notable one in the annals of Soccer in the Wairarapa. The touring Australians were a 200 psr cent, better side than any other visiting combination for many yearn Association football in New Zealand, he regretted to say, had not made the progress it had in Australia, but he hoped that many valuable lesson* would be learnt from the play of the brilliant visitors. “Of the many warm welcomes we have received throughout New Zealand, none has been more cordial than Masterton’s,” remarked Mr. C. Storey, manager of the touring side, who went on to refer to aspects of the game in New Zealand and Australia and to thank the Mayor for his warm welcome.