Marquee
2.1K
·
6.4K
·
over 14 years

Ray Hicks wrote:

Wow this game had it all! A couple of excellent goals from the Aussies, 2 horrendous " tackles " by Evans and Dunford,"pass master " Danny Halligan, an Aussie headbutt, and to cap it all, a shockingly bad mullet surgically implanted on Vidmar's bonce...Jesus.

More please...!

Dunford at 2.00 some challenge that and that challenge on Vidmar by the Good Dr Ceri Evans at around 9.55. WOW. I wonder how many rolls that Twit from Melb City Brandan would have completed afeter being felled by that? To his credit Vidmar eventually picked his mullet up and got on with it! 

Back when centre backs were Men and strkers heard footsteps

Starting XI
2K
·
4.7K
·
almost 17 years

sthn.jeff wrote:

Ray Hicks wrote:

Wow this game had it all! A couple of excellent goals from the Aussies, 2 horrendous " tackles " by Evans and Dunford,"pass master " Danny Halligan, an Aussie headbutt, and to cap it all, a shockingly bad mullet surgically implanted on Vidmar's bonce...Jesus.

More please...!

Dunford at 2.00 some challenge that and that challenge on Vidmar by the Good Dr Ceri Evans at around 9.55. WOW. I wonder how many rolls that Twit from Melb City Brandan would have completed afeter being felled by that? To his credit Vidmar eventually picked his mullet up and got on with it! 

Back when centre backs were Men and strkers heard footsteps

So many of the tackles from that game would result in cards and sending off nowadays.  

If you were an out and out rugby head watching that and then watching a match from 2016 you'd probably say something like "them soccer poofters are even worse now then when I was young, bunch of fairies/pansies" etc. Sentiments I agree with and I'm still a young(ish) man playing.

Was great to see very little simulation and men actually playing like men.  Also the goals for Aussie were great and wow what a mullet Aerulio had!!!

Aza
First Team Squad
110
·
1K
·
about 10 years

Marto wrote:

sthn.jeff wrote:

Ray Hicks wrote:

Wow this game had it all! A couple of excellent goals from the Aussies, 2 horrendous " tackles " by Evans and Dunford,"pass master " Danny Halligan, an Aussie headbutt, and to cap it all, a shockingly bad mullet surgically implanted on Vidmar's bonce...Jesus.

More please...!

Dunford at 2.00 some challenge that and that challenge on Vidmar by the Good Dr Ceri Evans at around 9.55. WOW. I wonder how many rolls that Twit from Melb City Brandan would have completed afeter being felled by that? To his credit Vidmar eventually picked his mullet up and got on with it! 

Back when centre backs were Men and strkers heard footsteps

So many of the tackles from that game would result in cards and sending off nowadays.  

If you were an out and out rugby head watching that and then watching a match from 2016 you'd probably say something like "them soccer poofters are even worse now then when I was young, bunch of fairies/pansies" etc. Sentiments I agree with and I'm still a young(ish) man playing.

Was great to see very little simulation and men actually playing like men.  Also the goals for Aussie were great and wow what a mullet Aerulio had!!!

"hi..."

Starting XI
2K
·
4.7K
·
almost 17 years

Get Ceri on his case!

Starting XI
1.8K
·
4.1K
·
about 17 years

that aussie team was some team

they'd murder the current lot

First Team Squad
1.2K
·
1K
·
over 14 years

Setting the scene for this afternoon's qualifier!

One in a million
4K
·
9.5K
·
about 17 years

Wow, that was a good watch!! Bring on this arvo!

Starting XI
2K
·
4.7K
·
almost 17 years

Great watch.  Better then the squad and game from Saturday but what a poor miss from Wood.

First Team Squad
1.2K
·
1K
·
over 14 years

Morning all - I had to dig this game out for something else I'm working on, so figured I'd bung some highlights up anyway...

First Team Squad
1.2K
·
1K
·
over 14 years

Morning all - someone was floating the name of Neil Emblen for the Nix job, so I thought it'd be good to look at how his side played when he had the All Whites...

First Team Squad
1.2K
·
1K
·
over 14 years

Hi everyone - with NZF celebrating their 125th anniversary recently, though it'd be good to look at the games that were used to celebrate the 100th back in 1991...

(apologies if some of the footage is a bit ropey, came from very old VHS...)

First Team Squad
1.2K
·
1K
·
over 14 years

Afternoon all - someone recently requested footage of games against Paraguay?  Unfortunately I can't put up the match from the World Cup due to copyright, but here's the two other times we've played them... the games are 15 years apart, and yet Simon Elliott played in both :)

Check out my channel and subscribe for more All Whites matches:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4UbNVwVuNWskyzoZ...

tradition and history
1.5K
·
9.9K
·
almost 17 years
Marquee
2.1K
·
6.4K
·
over 14 years

mike mcgarry may be the only contentious one.
Cock
2.7K
·
16K
·
over 14 years

I could do a McGarry/Vicelich swap possibly.....

One in a million
4K
·
9.5K
·
about 17 years

Hopefully one day Chris Wood will force his way into that fivesome.

Marquee
690
·
7.3K
·
over 14 years

Article by Jason Pine

I hope you get the cash you need. 

Budgie lover
620
·
2.2K
·
over 16 years

I know what people are saying about McGarry but he was phenomenal in his day. Completely dictate play - basically what I want McGlinchey to become. He was my favourite NZ player growing up. 

Didn't hurt I was at Mosgiel AFC as a youth during that time and coached by his Dad :-)

Tony Smith has McGarry here as a winger but I remember him playing a fair bit centrally as well. 

Also, curious that Reid is the 'Maori centreback' but Rufer isn't the 'Maori striker' by Smith. Both are proud of their heritage as far as I remember.  

Legend
6.8K
·
14K
·
over 16 years

Is there much video of McGarry and Sumner? I've never really seen them.

Hope there will be a few more contenders coming through the ranks in the next few years. 

Who would be the next 5? 

Vicelich, Wood, Ricki.... hard to say as haven't seen so much going back over the years. Any keepers?

First Team Squad
1.2K
·
1K
·
over 14 years
Starting XI
1.8K
·
4.1K
·
about 17 years

i assume it's longevity that gets vicelich on these lists. each to their own i guess but i never thought much of him as a footballer. he'd be in my team, but nowhere near the ball (that makes sense to me...)

mcgarry was pure class. a brilliant footballer

LG
Legend
5.5K
·
23K
·
over 16 years

Monday 15 October 1979 7:30pm

Tuesday 13 November 1984 7:30pm City Ground Nottingham 

I found these going through some stuff. Some well know names on both sides.

Phoenix Academy
120
·
250
·
almost 12 years

Interesting stuff: however, upon closer inspection, does that 'B' in the 1979 England team stand for " (B)ecause no one could be ars*d being available? There's no way most of those players are 'B' internationals; looks like a regional version, judging by the players clubs(11 out of 15 from London). I wonder what Ron Greenwood's selection criteria was; the 1984 team looks quite a bit better...

tradition and history
1.5K
·
9.9K
·
almost 17 years

Ray Hicks wrote:

Interesting stuff: however, upon closer inspection, does that 'B' in the 1979 England team stand for " (B)ecause no one could be ars*d being available? There's no way most of those players are 'B' internationals; looks like a regional version, judging by the players clubs(11 out of 15 from London). I wonder what Ron Greenwood's selection criteria was; the 1984 team looks quite a bit better...

To me it is a 'B' side.

Names like Ray Wilkens, Chris Waddle, Kenny Sansom, Bryan Roberson and a lot more missing.

Phoenix Academy
120
·
250
·
almost 12 years

The record books will show they were 'B' Internationals, there is no dispute there; my point is that the team picked for the 1979 game substantially involves players who aren't anywhere near International quality(Glenn Hoddle apart). Approx 9 out of the 15 players involved never got full caps and only Hoddle, Devonshire & Sunderland(1 cap v Australia) played full internationals in the future; even taking into account the sometimes iffy nature of 'B' games, it seems a very odd team. I'm convinced it was a 'B' team but picked regionally; as to why, who knows?

That 1984 team looks far more representative of the club scene: players from Forest, Spurs Everton & Watford(all doing well domestically), and a guy like Lineker who was starting to bang them in consistently for Leicester...

Starting XI
1.8K
·
4.1K
·
about 17 years

2 very good new zealand sides there

one interesting name for me is chris turner, who i used to rate really highly when i saw him play for 'rewa when by all accounts he was well past his prime.

i would have liked to see him play in his earlier days

Phoenix Academy
120
·
240
·
over 16 years

Here are the 'first-team' line-ups from around the same dates

England line-up 17 October 1979 European Champs Qualifier at Northern Ireland:

Peter Shilton [Nottingham Forest] [29/0]
Phil Neal [Liverpool] [22/3]
Mick Mills [Ipswich Town] [27/0]
Phil Thompson [Liverpool] [17/1]
Dave Watson [Southampton] [46/3]
Ray Wilkins [Manchester United] [26/1]
Kevin Keegan [c] [SV Hamburg-FRG] [48/16]
Steve Coppell [Manchester United] [18/5]
Trevor Francis [Nottingham Forest] [16/4]
Trevor Brooking [West Ham United] [33/1]
>83' Terry McDermott [Liverpool] [7/0]
Tony Woodcock [Nottingham Forest] [6/2]
http://www.rsssf.com/tablese/eng-intres70.html

England line-up 14 November 1984 World Cup Qualifier at Turkey:

Peter Shilton [Southampton] [66/0]
Viv Anderson [Arsenal] [12/1]
Kenny Sansom [Arsenal] [47/1]
Ray Wilkins [AC Milan-ITA] [65/3]
Terry Butcher [Ipswich Town] [27/2]
Mark Wright [Southampton] [4/0]
Bryan Robson [c] [Manchester United] [39/14]
Steve Williams [Southampton] [6/0]
>61' Gary A Stevens [Tottenham Hotspur] [2/0]
Peter Withe [Aston Villa] [11/1]
Tony Woodcock [Arsenal] [38/16]
>66' Trevor Francis [Sampdoria-ITA] [45/12]
John Barnes [Watford] [15/3]
http://www.rsssf.com/tablese/eng-intres80.html

Phoenix Academy
81
·
360
·
about 15 years

Brilliant channel! Some great memories there and I remember the two games against Graham Taylor's England side really well. I was only about 10 / 11 at the time and I remember Ceri Evans as being the only full-time player at that time. I later saw him play in England when he was at Marlow (in those days in the Ryman Premier Division).

Starting XI
1.5K
·
4.9K
·
over 15 years

Ray Hicks wrote:

The record books will show they were 'B' Internationals, there is no dispute there; my point is that the team picked for the 1979 game substantially involves players who aren't anywhere near International quality(Glenn Hoddle apart). Approx 9 out of the 15 players involved never got full caps and only Hoddle, Devonshire & Sunderland(1 cap v Australia) played full internationals in the future; even taking into account the sometimes iffy nature of 'B' games, it seems a very odd team. I'm convinced it was a 'B' team but picked regionally; as to why, who knows?

That 1984 team looks far more representative of the club scene: players from Forest, Spurs Everton & Watford(all doing well domestically), and a guy like Lineker who was starting to bang them in consistently for Leicester...

That 1979 team was still fairly strong though, with several of the leading Div. One players of the day, albeit mostly from London!

It was played on a Monday night in October during the English season so many clubs were probably not keen to release players

Coached by Bobby Robson for that game by the way. Greenwood and Robson alternated England B coaching duties.

Robson had also coached England B on their five match 1978 NZ tour when Christchurch United drew with them 2-2.

Details of England B tour of NZ 1978 including two unofficial games vs. local sides ("Trans Tours United" = Christchurch United):

http://englandfootballonline.com/MatchRsl/MatchRsl...

There were changes to the squad after the program was printed. Graham Rix of Arsenal started in the game.

He went on to play 17 times for the full England team, debuting in September 1980 and playing all of England's games at the 1982 World Cup.

Actual match details here:

http://www.rsssf.com/tablese/eng-b-intres-det.html

(scroll right down)

Most England B players over the years never gained full caps.

It was used as a chance to try out promising new players (Roeder, Hilaire, Fashanu etc. fall into that category) and reward experienced pros outside of full England selection. Young Richard Money may be forgotten now but he went on to play in the European Cup semi-final in 1981 for Liverpool and was on the bench for the final. He coached Newcastle Jets in the 2005-6 A-League season.

Others in that 1979 side other than those you mention gained full England caps, maybe not always "in the future" - some already had full England caps. 

Gerry Francis had twelve full caps before this game, making his England debut in 1974 in a Euro Championship qualifier. He had even captained England.

Brian Talbot earned six full caps for England, having already made his debut in May 1977 vs. N. Ireland. Last full cap May 1980 vs. Australia.

Phil Parkes already had one full England cap and was one of the most highly-rated goalies in Britain at the time. He'd just started his ten year career at West Ham after signing in 1979 for £565,000, a world record for a goalkeeper at the time. Parkes was named West Ham's best goalie of all time in a 2003 fans' poll. Because the England team had Clemence and Shilton and Joe Corrigan, he was never going to get a look in.

Micky Flanagan is a legend to me as a Charlton supporter, one of the club's leading scorers of all time in two spells at the club.

He was playing under Terry Venables in the top flight for Palace at the time and was a fixture in England B teams of the 1970's.

That Palace side provided two other players in the England B squad and had been dubbed the "Team of the Eighties" after impressing in winning Div. 2 in 1978-79 and big expectations were placed on them. However the club's subsequent financial problems led to most of the best players being sold and Venables leaving.

Useful website with all England international players' details:

http://www.englandfootballonline.com/TeamPlyrs/Pla...

Phoenix Academy
120
·
250
·
almost 12 years

Interesting stuff Big Pete, but nevertheless this is a truly bizarre team: I researched your links and here is the England 'B' team v Austria, 4 months earlier: 

 FRIENDLY INTERNATIONAL 12/06/1979, Klagenfurt, 3.500 AUSTRIA B 0-1 ENGLAND B [HT 0-1] Scorer: England B: Bryan Robson 5'

AUTB: Saria, R Gisinger, Auer, Bauer, Ulmer, J Dihanich, Drabits (A Pichler 46'), Ritter (Pigel 46'), G Steinkogler, K Brauneder, M Zuenelli ENGLAND B: Joe Corrigan [Manchester City] [8/0] Viv Anderson [Nottingham Forest] [6/2] Kenny Sansom [Crystal Palace] [2/0] Steve Williams [Southampton] [1/0] Billy Wright [Everton] [1/0] Terry Butcher [Ipswich Town] [1/0] Glen Hoddle [Tottenham Hotspurs] [1/0] Bryan Robson [West Bromwich Albion] [1/1] Kevin Reeves [Manchester City] [1/0] Tony Woodcock [1FC Cologne] [1/0] Graham Rix [Arsenal] [1/0] Referee: Nikecic (Yugoslavia) Match abandoned after 60 minutes - Floodlight failure, half time was extended to 30 minutes.

Substantially different! Further to that, here is the 'B' team in the game following the NZ International:

FRIENDLY INTERNATIONAL 26/03/1980, Sunderland, Roker Park, 14.807 ENGLAND B 1-0 SPAIN B [HT 0-0] Scorer: England B: Russell Osman 81'

ENGLAND B: Joe Corrigan [Manchester City] [9/0] Viv Anderson [Nottingham Forest] [7/2] Alan Kennedy [Liverpool] [7/2] Alan Devonshire [West Ham United] [1/0] Russell Osman [Ipswich Town] [1/1] Shaun Elliott [Sunderland] [1/0] Alan Sunderland [Arsenal] [4/0] Bryan Robson [West Bromwich Albion] [2/1] Paul Mariner [Ipswich Town] [7/2] Garry Birtles [Nottingham Forest] [1/0] David Armstrong [Middlesbrough] [1/0] ESPB: Agustin Rodríguez, Aracil, Quique, David, de Andres, Garcia Cortes, Marcos (Rincon), Joaquín, Montero, Victor Munoz, J Rubio Referee: Johansson (Sweden)

Only Devonshire & Sunderland survived from the NZ game: obviously you have to take into account possible injuries & perhaps cup ties, but the disparity between the team for the NZ game, and the two games either side is enormous. Again, I believe the team v NZ was regionally picked, involving a couple of potential internationals(Hilaire & Fashanu), some old has beens(stand up Gerry Francis!), rewarding "good servants of the game"(Peach, Parkes, Waldron,Talbot & Day) and all done with a London-centric state of mind!

Of course the other factor could be the opposition and their relative strength; however, if that was the case, why not pick from the whole host of young players in Div1 at that time? It seems a very backward thinking team selection IMO...

Starting XI
1.5K
·
4.9K
·
over 15 years

For sure, the 1979 England B side that faced NZ wasn't as strong as those before or after.

Of the NZ side, the 1979 team includes only ten players in its twenty man squad who went on to make the squad for the 1982 World Cup qualifiers.

Johan Verweij was top goal-scorer in the NZ national league in 1979 after returning from a couple of years playing youth football in his father's home country, the Netherlands where he won the Dutch Youth Cup with Feyenoord.

Verweij and Richard Wilson had been team mates as teenagers at Christchurch national league club New Brighton in the mid-seventies and headed off to Holland together to play youth football at top clubs.

Verweij was unlucky to miss selection for the 1982 All Whites and received further All Whites caps after 1982.

Johan has returned to coaching this year after a few years away and is assistant to his former Christchurch United team mate Danny Halligan at Ferrymead Bays.

The striker who scored against England B, Keith Nelson, is one of the all-time legends of our national league.

Nelson, a Scottish immigrant, was the top goalscorer in our national league from the mid seventies to early eighties playing for Hamilton and Mount Wellington. Again, he was unlucky not to make the 1982 All Whites and was capped again after 1982.

Ian Park, the Christchurch United defender who scored twice in their 2-2 draw against England B at English Park, Chch  in 1978 was an All White in the mid-seventies but not selected for the 1979 tour of England. Like Steve Sumner, he came to Christchurch United from Preston North End in England in the early seventies.

Trans Tours United (Christchurch United) vs. England B 1978 (scroll down):

http://englandfootballonline.com/MatchRsl/MatchRsl...

Ian Park went on to a successful career in banking and by 2011 was chief executive of the ASB Bank.

Interview with Ian Park and other All Whites reminiscing on the 1975 All Whites tour of China, the first non-communist team to tour the country:

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/football/4811840/All-...

Looking at the 1984 All Whites squad that toured England above, there are only nine survivors from the 1982 All Whites, with guys like Brian Turner, Bobby Almond, Adrian Elrick and Glen Dods having retired from international play.

Phoenix Academy
120
·
250
·
almost 12 years

Surprised to see Shane Rufer in that 1979 NZ team: I assumed he was capped after Wynton, and in the mid 80s. He must have been very young in 1979. Over to you Big Pete...

Hilarious to see " Trans Tours United " as a club name; definitely a blast from the past!

Starting XI
1.5K
·
4.9K
·
over 15 years

Ray Hicks wrote:

Surprised to see Shane Rufer in that 1979 NZ team: I assumed he was capped after Wynton, and in the mid 80s. He must have been very young in 1979. Over to you Big Pete...

Hilarious to see " Trans Tours United " as a club name; definitely a blast from the past!

It certainly took Shane a long time to earn his 8 full caps (2 goals); 19 total AW's apps.

From 1979 - 1985 for his full caps.

http://www.ultimatenzsoccer.com/NZRepSoccer/caps_a...

Shane made an impressive start to his All Whites career in 1979 before fading from contention until after the 1982 World Cup. 

His first full cap (England B doesn't count of course) was actually before this England B game in October 1979:

http://www.ultimatenzsoccer.com/NZRepSoccer/id1562...

(scroll down)

It came on 29/6/79 in a 6-0 rout of Fiji when he started and scored on debut aged 19.

Shane Rufer retained his starting place for the next game vs. Fiji on 1/7/79 when he scored again.

He came off the bench in the following international, a 2-0 win vs. New Caledonia on 26/7/79.

Shane started against Bahrain in the first of a two match series on 3/10/79 and came off the bench in the second match on 8/10/79

Shane had to wait six years until 21/9/85 in a World Cup qualifier vs. Australia for his next cap:

http://www.ultimatenzsoccer.com/NZRepSoccer/id1563...

Shane made three appearances in 1985 in World Cup qualifiers, his last full appearances for NZ.

His career took off after signing for FC Zurich along with Wynton in 1982 where he made 75 appearances in two spells, with periods at other Swiss clubs, finally with major club Servette in the 1990-91 season (17 apps).

Because clubs were not compelled to release players in those days for internationals, like Wynton he made few All Whites appearances despite playing at a very good club level. He was released by FC Zurich for only the biggest World Cup qualifiers in 1985 vs. Australia and Israel. He wasn't selected in 1989 for the qualifiers.

1979 was one of the most successful years in All Whites history with six wins from six A internationals, including a 1-0 win against Australia on 13/6/79.

1979 - 1987 also was a period of complete NZ dominance over Australia. Nine years that Australia would rather forget !

vs. Australia: Played: nine  Won: five   Drew: three   Lost: one

This is in all A internationals 1979 - 1987 including World Cup qualifiers, friendlies, Trans-Tasman Cup. 

Johan Verweij from Christchurch United also played in most All Whites games that in successful year, debuting against Australia in the win on 13/6/79 and playing in four of the six games in 1979, scoring his first international goal vs. Bahrain on 3/10/79

Like Shane Rufer he was to miss out on the 1982 All Whites but gain selection afterwards.

Verweij went on to gain five full caps (one goal) and nineteen total NZ appearances, the last one in 1983.

Both players fell out of favour with John Adshead.

Interestingly, Shane's more famous brother Wynton actually made his All Whites debut in an A international on 16/10/80 not during the All Whites run to the 1982 World Cup as we previously all thought.

http://www.ultimatenzsoccer.com/NZRepSoccer/id1563...

Wynton appeared in four of NZ's seven games at the 1980 Merdeka Tournament in Malaysia (an annual international friendly tournament which was one of Asia's biggest).

NZ finished fifth of eight sides after thrashing Kuwait, beating South Korea, drawing with Burma and Thailand and losing to Malaysia and Morrocco. Pretty good results for a young B team facing full international sides:

http://www.rsssf.com/tablesm/merdeka80.html

Originally these games weren't classed as A internationals but have subsequently been upgraded.

NZ entered a "B" team of promising young players, whereas the tournament rules stated all teams were considered A sides.

A  17 year-old Ceri Evans also made his debut at this tournament six days after his seventeenth birthday and started all seven games.

Previously, before this tournament was upgraded, Ceri's A international debut was considered to be at the 1983 Olympic qualifying tournament in Singapore (Olympic football sides were senior sides then and the matches A internationals). 

Starting XI
1.8K
·
4.1K
·
about 17 years

superb big pete

can someone tell me what was shane rufers best position? i know he played as a striker in his early days and i'm pretty sure he played right wing back in those 1985 world cup qualifiers

what position did he play professionally in europe?

WeeNix
500
·
800
·
about 10 years

Shane played mainly as  a striker for Stop Out in the late 1970s. In 1980 Shane & Wynton both played for Stop Out under the then recently appointed Fred Goodwin.

Fred was recruited from Britain having previously played for Wolves. Whilst he had a good knowledge of the game he was a hard nosed coach who lacked man management skills and he effectively drove both Shane & Wynton out of the Club.

Wynton went to play for his college team while Shane played Central League for Seatoun.  Stop Out were relegated from the National league in 1980.

First Team Squad
1.2K
·
1K
·
over 14 years

Morning all, apologies been out of circulation for a while, but reading the above thread, thought I'd offer the game v Aus from 1979 (before Newmarket Park fell down the hill):

and while we're on the old school theme, the iconic game from Kuwait in 1981 - including a few bits you probably haven't seen before!:

Visit channel and subscribe:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4UbNVwVuNWskyzoZ...

Phoenix Academy
120
·
250
·
almost 12 years

Great stuff! Watching the Kuwait game put a little knot in my stomach again after 30 odd years! So much tension at the time...Love the way Alan Parry is a closet NZ fan! Screams the house down when NZ score, but a little more muted when the Kuwaitis find the net. If I remember rightly, Parry & Barry Davies spent some time with the NZ team on the team coach & at hotels etc and had quite a strong connection with the team.

The clip showed what a good player Sumner was: he did everything in midfield; winning the ball, knocking some good passes & scoring a super goal.

And the old issue of Richard Wilson pops up again! Sure he was faulty for the first Kuwaiti goal, but bloody hell he saved their backsides a few times too! To be dropped so late in the piece must have been sickening...

Phoenix Academy
81
·
360
·
about 15 years

This just arrived today from an eBay seller... The All Whites tour of the UK in 1992. This was a slightly surprise fixture given that St Albans were just a Diadora Premier League side at the time (equivalent to Conference South today). I am close to getting the whole set of programmes from the tour, just one or two remaining. Some good players on the squad list there though - Ceri Evans was at Oxford United at the time of this tour and Fred de Jong (for some reason listed as "de Tong" here) was at Fortuna Sittard in the Netherlands.

Starting XI
1.5K
·
4.9K
·
over 15 years

PaulSG wrote:

This just arrived today from an eBay seller... The All Whites tour of the UK in 1992. This was a slightly surprise fixture given that St Albans were just a Diadora Premier League side at the time (equivalent to Conference South today). I am close to getting the whole set of programmes from the tour, just one or two remaining. Some good players on the squad list there though - Ceri Evans was at Oxford United at the time of this tour and Fred de Jong (for some reason listed as "de Tong" here) was at Fortuna Sittard in the Netherlands.

Full line-ups and stats for that 1992 tour of Britain:

http://www.rsssf.com/tablesn/nz-intres-det90.html#...

The line-up in the program above is quite inaccurate.

Malcolm Dunford was initially selected for the tour but pulled out due to injury.

Team coached by Christchurch United's Ian Marshall, a Scottish immigrant.

Squad contained four current or past Christchurch United players (Ceri Evans, Alun Evans - not related, Mike McGarry, Garry Lund)

Five English-based pros (Shane Rufer listed as "Gillingham"), Wynton in Germany, Fred in Holland.

New Zealand squad announced for the tour of the United Kingdom:
Clint Gosling (Sydney Olympic, AUS), Michael Utting (Miramar), Michael Ridenton
(Rotherham, ENG), Rodger Gray (Waitakere), Garry Lund (Christchurch United),
Jason New (Napier), Michael McGarry (Christchurch United), Robert Ironside
(Sydney Olympic, AUS), Chris Riley (Manurewa), Carl Jorgensen (Waitakere), Alun
Evans (Christchurch United), Billy Wright (Morwell Falcons, AUS), Vaughan Coveny
(Miramar), Thomas Edge (Waitakere).
Brian Roberts (Mt Maunganui) was a late withdrawal due to personal reasons. Brian
Hayes (Waikato United) called up but made himself unavailable. Malcolm Dunford
(Miramar), who would've been the captain, withdrew because of an injury.
Some players based in the United Kingdom and Europe were also considered on a
match-by-match basis, subject to availability.
The following players made appearances during the tour:
Ceri Evans (Oxford United, ENG), Heremaia Ngata (Hull City, ENG), Fred de Jong
(Fortuna Sittard, NLD), Wynton Rufer (Werder Bremen, GER), Shane Rufer
(Gillingham, ENG) and Chris Zoricich (Leyton Orient, ENG).
Coach: Ian Marshall (coach).
Assistant coach: Kevin Fallon*.
Physiotherapist: Bryce Hastings
Tour leader: Brian Cunningham.
* - Kevin Fallon returned to the New Zealand coaching staff after an absence of just over
three years. Former assistant coaches, Steve Sumner and Keith Pritchett withdrew due to
other commitments. New Zealand were based at the Lensbury Club (Middlesex).

The highlight was a 1-0 win over Celtic at Parkhead, the proudest moment in manager Ian Marshall's football career:

Rufer, Coveny and de Jong were the awesome strike force for NZ that day. Chris Zorocich scored.

Some legends of the era including Charlie Nicholas, Pat Bonner and Tony Cascarino in the Celtic team:

 Feb 4, 1992 Glasgow, Parkhead, 7300
The Celtic FC 0-1 New Zealand
(Chris Zoricich 58')
The Celtic FC (Scotland):
Pat Bonner (Stewart Kerr 78'), Billy Dolan (Raymond McStay 46'), Mike Galloway, Peter Grant,
Tony Mowbray, Barry Smith, Martin Hayes, Mark Donaghy, Tony Cascarino, Charlie Nicholas [c],
(Gerry Britton 46'), Steve Fulton.
Coach: Liam Brady.
New Zealand:
Clint Gosling, Robert Ironside [c], Garry Lund, Rodger Gray, Chris Zoricich, Michael
McGarry, Chris Riley (Carl Jorgensen 74'), Michael Ridenton, Wynton Rufer,
Vaughan Coveny, Fred de Jong.
Coach: Ian Marshall (assisted by Kevin Fallon).

NZ beat St Albans (first game of tour -  a warm-up for Celtic), Celtic and Brighton (second tier) but lost to Tranmere (second tier, 7-0 with John Aldridge scoring four), Southend (second tier), Sheffield Utd (top flight) and Scodhorpe (fourth tier).

A tough seven match schedule with games sometimes on consecutive days. 

The tour was a proud moment for English-born All Whites striker Billy Wright, one of the best strikers in the NZ and Aussie national leagues of the era (then playing in Oz):  vs. Newcastle Utd "Billy Wright's father was the fourth official at the match. Wright was born in Newcastle and as a 17-year-old was on trial at Newcastle United". Kevin Keegan was Newcastle manager.

Following this, in May and June 1992 Werder Bremen played the AW's in three matches in NZ.  

You’ll need an account to join the conversation!

Sign in Sign up