A BIG TOUR

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 21, 16 April 1927, Page 11

A BIG TOUR

CANADIAN SOCCER TEAM WILL TEST N.Z.’S STRENGTH.

“STRONGEST SIDE YET’

A Canadian soccer teajn, comprising 17 players and a manager, is due to arrive in Auckland on May 23 for at 10 weeks’ tour of New Zealand According to the individual achievements of the players, the New Zealand representative teams will be up against the stiffest proposition it hag ever been their lot to meet (says a Southern writer). Some of the players are natives of Canada, well built and trained in a, good school of football with the advantage that they have had experience in playing against English and Scottish professional teams, from which games they have emerged with credit, if not with success. Several of them were born in the nursery of Association football, Scotland, and learned to play with teams of considerable reputation. In their opening matches against Taranaki, Wanganui and Manawatu they have won three fairly easy games, but these should put them in good tune to meet Wellington on June 3 and from then on they will be a team to be reckoned with, for by then they will have got into their stride. The first test is on June 25, at Dunedin, by which time they will have played at least 10 games, and this will be a real trial of The sec °nd and third tests TX: • * I ! ow on suc ceeding Saturdays at Christchurch and Wellington, and the last at Auckland, just before the team returns.. TOUR WILL COST, £7,000. It is a big tour that the New Zealand Council has undertaken, but its optimistic estimate of the success of the visit is fully justified. The tour will cost New Zealand £7OOO, which means an average of practically £350 a match tor 21 games. In addition, there are other heavy expenses to be incurred, and the assembling of the New Zealand representative teams for the test matches will be a considerable item. The total expenses have been estimated at £IO,OOO, which will require an approximate average of £SOO a match to cover. The team is a far stronger one than that which visited Australia two seasons* ago, and no side as good has hitherto visited New Zealand. They are assured of a great welcome from Soccer enthusiasts in all parts of the Dominion, and there are more of them than is generally realised. Not only will the visit promote good relations between the sports bodies of the two Dominions, but it should do much to cement and improve commercial relations. THE ITINERARY. The revised itinerary is as follows: May 23. 1927 —Arrive Auckland. May 25 (Wednesday)—Versus Taranaki. at New Plymouth. May 2S ( Saturday)—Versus Wanganui, at Waruranui. June 1 (Wednesday!—Versus Manawatu. at Palmerston North. June 3 (Friday)—Versus Wellington, at Wellington. June 4 (Saturday). June 7 (Tuesday)—Versus Marlborough, at Blenheim. June 9 (Thursday)—Versus Nelson, at Nelson.

June 11 (Saturday).—Versus Buller. at Westport. June 15 (Wednesday)—Versus Westland, at Greymouth. June 3 8 (Saturday)—Versus Otago, at Dunedin. June 22 (Wednesday)—Versus Southland, at Invercargill. June 25 (Saturday)—Versus New Zealand.' at Dunedin (first test). June 29 (Wednesday)—Versus Canterbury. at Christchurch. July 2 (Saturday)—Versus New Zealand, at Christchurch (second test). July 6 (Wednesday)—Versus South * Canterbury, at T\maru. July 9 (Saturday)—Versus New Zealand. at Wellington (third test). July 13 (Wednesday).—Versus Hawke’s Bay, 'at Hastings. July 16 (Saturday).—Versus Poverty Bay, at Gisborne. July 20 (Wednesday).—Versus South Auckland, at Hamilton. July 23 (Saturday).—Versus Auckland, at Auckland. July 27 (Wednesday).—Versus North Auckland, at Whangarei. July 30 (Saturday).—Versus New Zealand, at Auckland (fourth Test). August 2, 1927.—Leave Auckland.