Conquest in Tokyo

The perfect tour - that’s how all participants still refer to that memorable trip to the far east in 1971. The Saints went, saw and conquered - both on and of the field. It was superb fun combined with great results and a grand ambassadorial mission by a well disciplined, happy and talented Australian team, coached by Rale Rasic.

The prelude to the tour was played out in Sydney in January when the Japanese Toyo Kogyo team of Mazda fame visited Australia. In Sydney, St.George were great hosts, except on the field, there they outclassed the Japanese and won 3:0 (Denton, Alston, Abonyi).

The Far East tour started in February in the tiny Portuguese colony of Macao - half a day after the teams arrival from Sydney. The team arrived in Hong Kong on the morning and had to play that afternoon in the Macao stadium.

The players hardly had a chance to unpack their bages in the hotel when the it was time to board the bus to the stadium. The 6:1 (Denton 3, Williams 2, Abonyi) win was a good omen for the rest of the tour.

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 Fortuna 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.
    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 couldn’t 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.

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.

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 of Rale Rasic was much stronger than the State selection.

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