Two
days later the Saints continued their rampage in the Hong Kong
Government Stadium, whacking local champion Jardine Sports in front of
10,000 spectators 6:2 (Ainslie, Warren, Denton, Abonyi 2, Alston).
After a mere 10 minutes the sparkling St.George were three goals up and
the rest was highly entertaining and satisfying cruise to a comfortable
win.
The
Hong Kong headquarters of the team was the small but modern,
clean and efficiently run Fortune Court Hotel, of Nathan Street,
in Kowloon. While in Hong Kong, the Jardines club gave a
reception dinner in the teams honour and, just like in Macao,
came the long procession of
Chinese delicacies.
Then came Japan where
St.George were invited to participate in an international tournament together with the
Danish first division club Boldklubben Frem Copenhagen, Japan A and Japan B National team.
It looked a stiff assignment:
Japan, after all, won the bronze medal at the 1968 Mexico
Olympics and under the brilliant leadership of manager coach Shun-Ichiro Okano, now
secretary general of the Japanese
Olympic Federation, produced a talented team bristling
with exellent prayers, non better than the tall, elegant Kamamoto, voted by the worlds
Press as the 1968 Olympic tourneys
outstanding player.
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The tournament opener on a Sunday afternoon in the Tokyo Olympic
Stadium, in front of 25, 000 fans and some 5,000,000 TV viewers,
ended in a 0:0 draw. Only
some atrocious bad luck and a few peculiar "homer" decisions by the Japanese
referee prevented the Saints
from winning comfortably.
In this match St.George
played above themselves; it was stunning to see Sandell blot out the great Kamamoto, with
hardly one foul.
Schaefer and Utjesenovic marshalled the defence while Warren and Alston
ruled the midfield.
Mar 7, Tokyo
Japan 0-0 St George
Japan: Yokoyama, Yamagushi, Kikukawa, Ogi, Arayi, Ohno, Mori,
Kimura (Kobata), Kamamoto, Yoshimura, Sugiyama
St. George: Brian Taylor, Don Sandall, Doug Utjesenovic, Harry Williams, Manfred Schaefer, George Harris, John Warren,
Alan Ainslie,
Attila Abonyi, Mike Denton, Adrian Alston
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Two days later the
Saints made an excursion to Hiroshima, the worlds first atom bombed City and beat Toyo
Kogo - the team of the vast local auto works - Mazda, 3:2 with goals from Atti Abonyi and
Adrian Alston 2.
Back in
Tokyo, the tournament continued against Frem Copenhagen, fielding four full Danish
internationals. The likeable, athletic tall Danes shared the elegant Akasaka Prince Hotel
with the Saints and the day before that match, whenever the players came face to face,
cheerfully held up five fingers, indicating the number of goals they would score.
But soon there was
something rotten in the state of Denmark: St.George, with a brilliant second half display,
romped home 3:0 winners. Abonyi, Alston, Denton.
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Mar
14, Tokyo
Frem Copenhagen 0-3 St George
Atti Abonyi pen, Adrian
Alston, Mike Denton
Frem Copenhagen:
V.Hansen, F.Hansen, Hougard, Boeje, Moerch, Ulrichson, L.Nielsen, Povlson, Madsen, Printzlau, Ahlberg
St. George: Brian Taylor, Don Sandall, Doug Utjesenovic, Harry Williams, Manfred Schaefer, George Harris, John Warren,
Alan Ainslie,
Attila Abonyi, Mike Denton, Adrian Alston]
One more interlude
followed, this time a brief bus journey to Omiya, some 65 km from Tokyo for a friendly
with Football Club Hitachi. In what turned out to be the most bruising match of the whole
tour, the Saints scrapped home 2:1 winners in front of 10,000 people, with a last second
goal by Atti Abonyi. The first goal came from Michael Denton.
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Now only Japan "B" stood between St.George and the huge
silver trophy, and there were no slip ups. With some world class goals by Adrian Alston
and Johnny Warren, St.George ran to a comfortable 6:2 win, and a richly deserverd first
place in the Tokyo International Tournament. Williams, Warren, Abonyi 2, Denton, Alston
are on the score sheet.
Mar 21, Tokyo
Japan B 2-6 St George
Ochiai 2; Harry Williams, John Warren, Atti Abonyi 2 (1 pen), Mike Denton,
Adrian Alston]
Japan B: Funamoto, Maeda, Hara, Yoshida, Fujishima, Ashikasa, Ochiai, Sakiya,
Ohara (Yamada), Hidaka, Hirosawa
St. George: Brian Taylor, George Harris (George Campbell), Doug Sandall, Doug Utjesenovic, Harry Williams,
Manfred Schaefer,
John Warren, Alan Ainslie, Attila Abonyi, Mike Denton, Adrian Alston
The final standings were
1. Saint Geoge Budapest - Australia
2. Boldenklubben Frem Copenhagen - Denmark
3. Japan National team
4. Japan B team
The six wins and the
one honourable though unlucky draw on the tour would have pleased any team, even from
Europe. But the VIP treatment the Saints received throughout their stay in Japan was
perhaps even more gratifying.
The Japanese hosts, both in Tokyo and in Hiroshima, simply couldnt do enough to make
the Australian party more welcome; first rate accommodation, training facilities,
transport, luxury class meals, receptions by Lord Mayors and the Australian Embassy and
the appearance of Japans Crown Prince at the stadium all left their indelible mark on the
happy tourists.
Both the tour manager, Les
Bordacs and coach Rale Rasic had every reason to be satisfied with the teams sporting
behaviour and brilliant results on the tour.
In some of the matches, against Japan and Copenhagen in particular, the Saints reached
heights they seldom if ever reproduced later.
Few will forget the superb performances of stopper Don Sandell, the spectacular runs and
goals of Adrian Alston or the "Hong Kong blitz" in the opening minutes by Alan
Ainslie.
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The touring party
consisted of
Le Bordacs (tour leader), Rale Rasic (Coach - manager - masseur - dietician - and anything
else you like),
Players: Brian Taylor, Denis Donovan, Geoff Morgan, George Harris, Harry
Williams, Doug Utjesenovic, Manfred Schaefer, Don Sandell, Tommy Anderson, Alan Ainslie,
Adrian Alston, Johnny Warren (c), Mike Denton, Attila Abonyi, Jimmy Herron and George
Campbell.
Also in the party were Andrew Dettre who arranged the tour and club supporters Fred Arve
and the late Alex Nemes
who went along for an unforgettable ride as tourists.
St.George vs Japan B Team
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The Queensland Soccer
Federation invited the Sydney club side St George Budapest to Brisbane later in April to
play in a one off friendly match against the Queensland representative side at Perry Park.
St.George won by goals from Denton, Alston and Abonyi.
The club side of Rale Rasic was much
stronger than the State selection.
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