Photos (Top to Bottom): Gary Lineker with some young fans at North Hobart; Nagoya Grampus Eight training at North Hobart; Nagoya manager Ryuzo Hiraki (left) and head caoch Jorge Yonashiro; Gary Lineker in training; Local players Ian Parker (left) and Stephen Brown (right) with Gary Lineker; Jorginho (No. 6) in training; Gary Lineker relaxes after training; Nagoya Grampus Eight training at North Hobart; Japanese reporter talking to a Nagoya coach; Japanese television crew in and amongst the Nagoya Grampus Eight players
The first J-League team to conduct a pre-season training camp in Australia was Nagoya Grampus Eight.
In March 1993, they came to Hobart for a two-week camp in preparation for their J-League season.
Two of their stars were England international Gary Lineker and Brazilian international Jorginho.
Lineker had recently ended his international career and was just a goal short of equalling Bobby Charlton’s goal-scoring record for his country.
Jorginho, 33, had played for Brazil from 1983 to 1986 but missed the 1986 World Cup because of a broken leg.
He was a class player and was the man-of-the-match when Nagoya Grampus Eight took on Tasmania at North Hobart Oval on 13 March 1993 before a crowd of 3,000.
Nagoya Grampus Eight won 3-0, with Shigeo Sawairi and Jorginho netting to make it 2-0 at the break and Tetsuya Asano adding the third in the second half.
The Japanese squad of manager, five coaches and 27 players arrived in Hobart on 2 March 1993 and stayed at Ridges, a hotel beside the North Hobart Oval.
They trained at both North Hobart Oval and South Hobart.
Ryuzo Hiraki, 59, was the manager. He played for Japan at the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne.
The head coach was Jorge Yonashiro, a Brazilian of Japanese descent.
Norio Tsukitake was another coach accompanying the squad, while the goalkeeping coach was Dutchman Dirk Havenaar.
There were five goalkeepers in the 27-man squad and the up-and-coming keeper amongst them was Ken Ishikawa.
The presence of Nagoya Grampus Eight attracted huge media interest, which was assisted by the fact that the World Under-20 Cup finals were being staged in Australia at the same time.
Two Japanese television crews were in Hobart for the duration of the camp and filed news stories in Japan every day.
The amount of publicity Tasmania was receiving in Japan was priceless, and it was all free.
Four English reporters came to Hobart for the match between Tasmania and Nagoya Grampus Eight, including my friend Rob Hughes, who was writing for The Times.
The others were Colin Gibson of “The Daily Telegraph”, Frank Wiechula of “The Daily Mirror” and Steve Curry of “The Daily Express”.
“The Mercury” never allowed me to cover soccer to such an extent before or since that visit.
I was able to file a lengthy report about the visitors each day and my story about Gary Lineker, based on an interview I conducted with him after training one day, was given an entire page in the paper [“The Mercury”, Tuesday, 10 March 1993].
The curtain-raiser to the big game was between a Tasmanian reserves side and Nagoya Grampus Eight reserves.
Tasmania won that match 1-0 through a goal by Nick Reed.
The visit was the brainchild of the late Denis McCauley, State Manager of the Tasmanian Soccer Federation.
McCauley had come to Tasmania from South Australia two years earlier to set up his Tasmanian Soccer Schools (TSS), an organisation of which he was president.
Gordon Nutt, the former Arsenal, Cardiff City and PSV Eindhoven winger, who was also living in Tasmania, was chief coach of TSS, which was sponsored by “The Mercury”.
Tasmanian politicians clambered aboard the initiative and promised all sorts of things for soccer, including repeat visits by Nagoya Grampus Eight. They could see the benefits of such visits and the free publicity in Japan, which could lead to an influx of Japanese tourists to Tasmania.
Sadly, after the Japanese left our shores, everyone went quiet.
Several Japanese teams began to conduct pre-season training camps in Australia, but not in Tasmania. Adelaide and the Gold Coast were preferred.
McCauley resigned later that year because he was fed up with the way soccer was being run in Tasmania and he returned to Adelaide.
There was a hive of activity in the game in 1993, apart from the Nagoya Grampus Eight visit.
The Tasmanian State team was very busy.
Tasmania lost 2-1 to Victoria at South Hobart later in the year, and 6-0 to South Melbourne Hellas at KGV Park.
The Canadian side Toronto Metros Croatia beat Tasmania 3-0 at KGV Park, a game in which Toronto’s Brazilian left-winger featured prominently.
I will deal with some of these games in future articles.
For the record, the Tasmanian senior side was: Neil Connell; Andrew Joseph, Wayne Boyd, John 'Snow' Compagne, Brett Murtagh, Roger Mies, Charlie McCaffrey, David Stoddart, Ian Parker (capt), Anthony Guilbert, Romeo Frediani (Substitutes: Tom McGinn, Scott Young, David Meldrum, Brett Williams) [Coach: Alex McDonald]
The Tasmanian reserve side was: Bob Smith, Peter Savill, Luigi Gugliotti, John Visentin, David Craig, Robert Mastrocola, Robert Furjanic, Fabio Pizzerani, Adrian Mann, Craig Pitt, Nick Reed (Substitutes: Matthew Wilson, Carlo Ambrosino, Tim Dale, Brett Williams)
24 comments:
For those of you unaware the 'fan' is Rodney Pless, Walter's son, you could have mentioned him Walter, no one would accuse you of nepotism.
Is that David Caruso from CSI Miami in the background? It also looks like a bird did a do on Linekar's arm.
Fantastic stuff Walter.
I remember those game like they were last year!! I was only a kid then but that sort of promotion of the game only encouraged me and other juniors to keep playing and strive to be better. If only we could attract such teams now!!
I reckon if you said in 1 season we could have a professional asian league team featuring former premier league and international players as well as an A league team (sth melb were in the old NSL at that time) people would think you were barmy!!
Myself and Doggy Holloway dashed off from college early one day to shoot down to North Hobart in the hope that we would catch Gary Lineker training.
Dog had his Spurs shirt from when he was about 8 years old stuffed in his bag hoping that he could catch the great man for a signature.
He came out of the changeroom and put his boots on in the stand right next to us - we were the only people there (I expect everyone else was at work or school??). He sat and had a chat to us for a while - it didnt quite rub off on our respective footballing careers, but a great memory!
walter,
I also enjoy these stories of yesterday. Keep it up.
where do you get the history? from your own records?
Wouldnt it be great to attact something like this again today?
Captain Australia
I have kept all my notebooks, going back to the late 1970s, when I first started reporting on the game. A flick through any one of those notebooks results in memories flooding back and facts staring at me from the pages.
I also always carried a camera and a tape recorder. I have boxes and boxes of old photographs and quite a few tapes with interviews. (I think I've even got a photo of Calies with Madmacglone in the line-up!)
Delighted that some readers are enjoying these historical pieces.
walter it would be great to see all that wealth of history you got stored away published in a book.what you have there is priceless.it might even help remove the bias in the tassie media and give footballthe space it deserves.would you have any idea how many participants our sport has compared to other sports? for instance how many people play soccer compared to aussie rules and hockey?
I'd be interested to see a young and handsome me in that photograph Walter It is good to see these pics from yesteryear. When you could cheat with throw ins, when you could, as a sweeper, endlessly pass the ball back and fwd to the keeper to run down time. When it wasn't illegal to give kids oranges at half time. Think I'll stop now. I suppose a pic of a calies team would be a bit special to me and others, given that club doesn't exist anymore.
remember the game well in the balmy hobart weather too walter. I remember having a few ales after the match at knopwoods with a journalist, geoff hutchison from channel 9 sports in melbourne. he was impressed with the level of interest in what was really a training camp and in football in tasmania generally.
great shame we don't see any more of these visits however it should be more likely now that the a-league teams plays in the asian champions league. still it comes down to the will of the powers that be to initiate these events and look at these opportunities seriously.
good to see NSW is treating you well madmcglone did DA reimburse you for the broken sofa.
I've now added the names of the Tasmanian senior squad and the reserve squad (the latter beat Nagoya Grampus Eight reserves 1-0) at the end of the article.
How are you Richie? I don't think DA has replaced anything he ought to have replaced in his life. Can't really remember him breaking a sofa, mind you my memory is well gone and even copious amounts of gingko biloba is going to save me from an inevitable trip to the rubber room. NSW is ok though I miss tassie and the vibe that is unique to the place. I did a degree in naturopathy of all things. Not sure if Walter will be too pleased at me posting an email type message, so I better switch to footballspeak. Are you still playing for south? They have moved up since I left, story of my life, leave a club and they excel. Andrew Joseph and bret murtagh were in the tassie team, I liked them both but ahem I reckon I.... no I wont go there. I think Crosson did a lot of work with Dickie Joseph and improved his game out of sight. As soon as he saw me struggle up Melafonte street with the rest of the cohort well in front, he didn't give me much of a look in, nutmegging him at training got me an elbow to my head as well. Scary man, I think he was in the Tassie coaching staff for the nagoya game. Anyway, I'm trying to get down to Tassie for a visit in the near future. So Knopwoods it is
I seem to remember it was the lady friend who actually broke the sofa but we won't go there.
yeah still playing with a few of the same guys from the glory days but we are at beachside like a few older ex-south players. enjoying the social side of playing.
I remember you pre-empted the current success at south by commenting you thought ken morton was the only coach in tassie who could get young players to improve quickly enough to win at the highest level.
I am pleased that the club has retained players that they developed and play in the right way.
anyway I remember the reason the journo's at the nagoya match were interested in talking to us when the uk contingent couldn't believe a geordie and mackem could be sitting together in their colours without kicking lumps out of each other. Coxy and Binnsy did have a volitile relationship though.
can't wait to see the photo in his heyday with calies walter.
pffft DA with a woman Hmmm I know he had a penchant for biggest loser types, which would explain the damage to the sofa. That boy had a reality/fantasy problem.There were some good times though. Is it Robbo the keeper or his brother who had a successful stint as a coach? Nice guys those 2.
Don't know if senator bob brown would be over the moon about that headline walter
yeah spot on!
nathan the younger has been coaching successfully at south and now at beachside or howrah as you would remember the club.
walter I have heard that tassie played both chelsea and a chineese rep side in hobart also. are there any match reports or photos of these games?
Hi Richard
You are spot on.
Chelsea beat Tasmania 12-0 at North Hobart in 1965, while China beat Tasmania 2-1 at the Royal Showground in 1975 (Tommy Wright put Tasmania ahead but we couldn't hang on to the lead).
The Tasmanian side that played against Chelsea had three guest players from Victoria to bolster the ranks. The team was: M Roussos, T Hartley (Vic), H Robertson, J Wallace, E Matthias, F Donleavy (Vic), W Worsey, H Streit, M Jurecki (Vic), H Pattison, P Wood (Res: C Jaeger, J Rader, B Shacklady).
I was a student at Hobart High that year and not into soccer reporting as yet so I don't have any personal photos or notes of the game, although I was there as a spectator. It was a Wednesday afternoon and the soccer kids at Hobart High were given the afternoon off to go and watch the game. The curtain-raiser was a youth match (State under-16s against under-19s or something like that).
The Tasmanian team against China was: M Roussos, W Stuetzel, E Kelly, L Nunn, O Moore, A Collins, T Wright, D Spendiff, M Denton, K Worden, A Hales (Res: E Puclin, S Dunne, T McKenna, F de Paoli) Manager: John Grimsey.
I was still playing and coaching at the time of this game and wasn't into reporting or photographing as yet so I don't have any personal records and was there only as a spectator.
thanks for that info walter, I note ali hales was in the tassie team to play china so I'm sure he'll let me know how the match panned out, I will have to remind him to include the other 21 players though in his game highlights.
he has a photo in his office of denis law,george best and himself after an exhibition match at devonport. he says it's of 2 of the best players in the world and denis law! you can see what I'm up against.
looking forward to more fantastic reports and photos from the past it's great history that I'm sure a lot of people are unaware of.
Madmcglone
The Calies photo I have features the following players:
Back Row (L-R): unknown, Schwaiger, Di Venuto, Pillans, Adkins, Banagan, Martin, unknown.
Front Row (L-R): Robins, Goldmsith, Murtagh, Wright, Parker.
I thought you might be in the back row, extreme right.
If you weren't in the team with these players, then it's not you and I probably don't have a team photo with you in it.
Can you please confirm whether or not these players were your contemporaries.
Walter, no that's not my era. Sounds
like it was quite a bit before my time. My contemporaries, from memory were: parker,joseph,murtagh,grainger,fenlon,calvert,robb,goodsell,wesson,huigsloot,mckenzie and me. There was a pic takn after a game when we beat white eagle by you, thought you might have that one. Never mind. I would post that pic you have anyway. might be able to name my doppleganger. cheers i
also. robb, goodsell, wesson,huigsloot and dunsby were a few others.
call hales a hun for me richie, and remind him who is top of the spl
Madmcglone
I've placed you now! Now that you've given me some of the other names, I think I have the photo. I will post it now for a short time. I think you are back row, fourth from the right (between Paplos and Fenlon). Am I right?
Walter, is there any chance I could get that picture emailed to me. I should have saved it, sorry
Madmcglone
Did you receive the photo?
I have confirmed it as being taken in 1989.
Walter , i cited the photo but didn't save it so,can u post it again or email it to imcglo10@scu.edu.au If its too much of a hassle then don't worry and cheers for posting the cpic in the first place
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