1969 ST GEORGE & WORLD CUP DRAMA

After the horrors of 1968, St George Budapest dramatically returned to form in 1969 and the appointment of new coach Frank Arok worked wonders. With the basis of the successful 1967 St George side still present, St George finished second in the premiership to South Coast United by just one point and Hakoah Eastern Suburbs were a further point back in third. The St George team (pictured below) included captain Johnny Warren, Manfred Schaefer, David Cliss, Roger Hillary, Don Sandell, Geoff bird, Michael Denton, Herbet Stegbauer, Atti Abonyi, George Yardley, Victor Fernandez and goalkeeper Frank Haffey. It was only some inconsistency that cost St George the title as they tellingly finished with the most goals scored (56) and the least conceded (17). What impressed most about St George on their day was their scintillating style of ‘total football’ and devastating attack, as evidenced in their opening game of the season with an 11-1 thumping of Yugal-Ryde. 

St George Budapest 1969

Ultimately St George played APIA Leichardt in the Grand Final and the match ended 1-1 after extra time, a replay being necessary three days later because penalty kicks weren’t used as the decider in those days. Unfortunately the Australian team was due to fly out to play World Cup qualifiers in Seoul after the replay and both sides were consequently required by the Australian Soccer Federation (ASF) to rest their representative players. All of Australia’s best players in those times were still playing in the local domestic competitions and none were based overseas. With each side losing three of their top players, St George led 2-0 in a strangely muted atmosphere until future Socceroo Ernie Campbell intervened to unbelievably score a hat trick in the last eleven minutes, giving APIA an unlikely 2-3 win. As a St George supporter, it was traumatic to watch and the APIA fans celebrated with astonishing gusto.

St George's Atti Abonyi during the Grand Final, scorer in the 1-1 draw 

APIA's Ernie Campbell (left), hat trick scorer in the Grand Final replay

Coach Frank Arok came to the St George club from Yugoslavia at the age of 37. His extensive resume included studies in Physical Culture at the University of Belgrade, experience as a high school Sport’s Master, the distinction of becoming the youngest coach in the Yugoslav First Division at age 26 and a parallel career as a soccer writer for a European newspaper in the Hungarian language. Arok had an immediate and positive effect on the St George team in every respect and he wrote an article for Soccer Monthly News (June 1969) outlining his coaching manifesto. It entailed spending two years in Sydney to give St George a modern, well drilled, tactical game with an individual style. This would involve fluent changes in style and tactics as necessary and encourage more aggressive attacking play by defenders and midfielders. Allied with that would be a modern, well planned, development scheme for juniors and young players connected with St George, introducing professional coaching methods instead of what he called the very amateurish methods adopted by too many coaches in Australia. He had a favourable initial impression of Sydney Soccer and felt that Hakoah had the best player material in NSW to the extent that with the addition of two or three top class players, could hold their own in the First Division of practically any European country. He also correctly predicted that Australia would not qualify for the 1970 World Cup because the Australian Soccer Federation appeared unable to bring the national squad together for adequate preparation and went on to explain that with proper preparation and a new approach that Australia could be just as big a World Cup surprise packet as North Korea in 1966. 

Frank Arok

I first met Frank Arok in mid-1969 when I was 13 years old, goalkeeper Frank Haffey having invited me to a St George training session. Frank Haffey intended to put me through my paces after the first team squad had finished but Frank Arok appeared and waved him away, taking my goalkeeper training session himself. At one stage he instructed me to make a small correction in technique, repeating it MUCH more loudly to ensure the adjustment was duly made. After about twenty minutes he stopped and explained how he’d set up a training squad for promising young players and would like me to attend. A few days later Johnny Warren phoned my parents and was excited to tell them how I’d impressed Frank Arok with my impromptu audition. Those team training sessions with Frank Arok proved to be the most intensive and high quality for young players that I was to ever encounter. He was an impressive, imposing and flamboyant figure. I always remember at shooting practice how he would urge the strikers to hit the ball at me in goal with venom, “kill him” was the coach’s cry! By the end of the year I was 14 years old and playing training games against the St George first team players including internationals like Johnny Warren, Manfred Schaefer and Atti Abonyi. I’d come a long way in less than a year from the Lugarno under 15 side to the St George Under 16 Interdistrict team and on to St George Budapest.

Johnny Warren (right) contests the ball for St George

At the start of 1970 Frank Arok’s attention had been diverted to the St George first team and I wasn’t sure in the end whether I’d be offered a contract. Frank Haffey by then had transferred to Hakoah Eastern Suburbs and he suggested having a trial with them – I was signed by Hakoah within a week. A few weeks later I was told that the St George assistant coach Tibor Zuckerman had been looking for me but by then I was already a Hakoah player. After two successive seconds in the 1969 and 1970 premierships, Frank Arok returned to St George after a one year break to finally take the club to the Premiership in 1972, along with victory in the Ampol Cup and the NSW State Cup. He would return again to win the National League title with St George in 1983 and would go on to coach the Socceroos from 1983 to 1990. Arok’s most notable achievements with the Socceroos were to reach the quarterfinals of the 1988 Olympic Games tournament and a monumental 4-1 defeat of World Cup holders Argentina in the Bicentennial Gold Cup in 1988. Whatever might be said of Frank Arok, he had an extraordinary knowledge of the game and a passionate determination to promote Australian soccer like few others could.

St George's Manfred Schaefer (right) heads the ball back to goalkeeper Frank Haffey

World Cup Qualifying Drama  

Australia played three matches at home against Greece in mid-1969, the results being one win apiece and a draw. It importantly produced Australia’s first win against a European nation at full international level with a 1-0 win at the Sydney Cricket Ground on 19 July 1969 before a crowd of 30,000. It was exciting to watch Australia dominate the match and have several chances to widen the margin before having to make do with the one goal from a second half penalty by Atti Abonyi. Coached by Joe Vlasits, this Australian team was arguably at least equal in talent to the side that later qualified for the 1974 World Cup with players including captain Johnny Warren, Ray Baartz, John Watkiss, Allan Marnoch, Manfred Schaefer, Stan Ackerley, Danny Walsh, Adrian Alston, Billy Vojtek and goalkeeper Ron Corry. Indeed many of these players were still in the squad five years later. Andrew Dettre (aka Paul Dean) in Soccer World described Johnny Warren’s performance as “his most unforgettable…he seemed yards faster than any other player on the field…tackling, intercepting, prompting and occasionally letting fly some pile drivers.”

Johnny Warren thwarted by the keeper for Greece in the 1-0 win for Australia at the SCG

It was essentially the same Australian team that departed Sydney on 1 October 1969 bound for Seoul, South Korea in an attempt to qualify for the 1970 World Cup in Mexico. It was the start of a marathon campaign that would call into question the ethics of FIFA in determining the draw and match schedules. The first stage involved playing against Japan (3-1, 1-1) and South Korea (2-1, 1-1) in a round robin tournament in Seoul, Australia emerging triumphant after defeating both countries and drawing the return matches. The headlines in Soccer World said “Forceful Australians Too Strong For Japan” and “Our Finest Hour Near – Set To Win Cup Group” (against South Korea). It was a major accomplishment away from home but not without drama. In the final drawn match against South Korea, Johnny Warren beat five or six defenders before slamming the ball into the net, only to incredibly have it disallowed for some reason that was never clear. The penalty awarded against Australia was similarly dodgy but was superbly saved by Ron Corry under immense pressure. The Soccer World headline said “Referees Were Ghastly” and the normally calm editor Paul Dean wrote: “(the referee) wasn’t just biased - he was plain cheating and so were his two linesman and in all my years of soccer I have never seen a more blatant attempt by a referee to shape a result”. It was only just a sample of the shenanigans that Australia would encounter in its World Cup endeavours. Dean also observed: “Despite the win we must not forget that our preparations were shoddy and totally inadequate. This was admitted by coach Joe Vlasits and all the players. One can only speculate what the team would have been capable of with a more thorough, more carefully planned program”.

Ray Baartz with the ball for Australia in the 2-1 win over South Korea

The next qualifying step for Australia was to play against Rhodesia (later known as Zimbabwe) in two matches to be held in neutral Laurenco Marques in Mozambique, virtually next door to Rhodesia. The winner would then play Israel to determine who would qualify for the World Cup. Rhodesia was originally to have been included in the group matches in Seoul but the other three countries involved (including Australia) refused to play against them due to political concerns regarding apartheid. However, after the matches in Seoul were completed, FIFA in its wisdom determined that Australia would still have to meet Rhodesia or face withdrawal from the World Cup. It was to be a long and expensive journey. Lou Gautier in Soccer World wrote of “FIFA’s scandalous decision to press ahead with plans to stage a play-off with Rhodesia…FIFA’s frantic efforts to accommodate Rhodesia would be laughable if they weren’t so tragic”.

The Australian squad prior to departing for the World Cup encounter with Rhodesia

Although Australia was expected to readily account for Rhodesia, it was an unnecessarily arduous task away from home and proved to be a stubborn encounter with two draws before Australia eventually won the extra unscheduled third match 3-1. The pressing problem was that Australia then only had a few days to arrive in Tel Aviv to meet with Israel, the 36 hour journey amazingly taking the team from Mozambique to Johannesburg (South Africa) to Luanda (Angola) to Lisbon (Portugal) to Rome (Italy) and then to Athens (Greece) before arriving a mere 24 hours prior to the match. It had taken the Australian team half way around the world thanks to politics and detours around trouble spots. It was little wonder that the team was exhausted and two of Australia’s best players in Ray Baartz and Allan Marnoch became ill and couldn’t play. Israel on the other hand had a much more simple path to the World Cup, having only to defeat New Zealand in two matches in Tel Aviv to earn the right to play Australia on a home and away basis, making a total of only four matches with three played at home (N.B. North Korea was originally to have also played against Israel but withdrew for political reasons). The total tally for Australia would be nine matches with only one played at home. It must be acknowledged that Australia agreed to the initial matches being played in Seoul but how FIFA calculated that the overall progam was somehow fair and reasonable is incomprehensible. A press interview with FIFA Secretary General Dr Helmut Kaser confirmed a blithe disregard for the obvious inequity despite howls of protest.

Australia's captain Johnny Warren in possession against Israel in Sydney 1969

History shows that Israel defeated Australia 1-0 in Tel Aviv at the Ramat Gan stadium in front of 60,000 people, the only goal coming from a deflected free kick. The match in Sydney ten days later ended in a 1-1 draw, Israel scoring first with twelve minutes left after defender George Keith inexplicably missed a regulation clearance and Mordechai Spiegler smashed the ball into the roof of the net. Australia certainly had its chances including a powerful Ray Baartz shot in the first five minutes that hurtled towards the top right corner and was brilliantly saved by the Israel keeper Visoker. It was left to John Watkiss to snatch the equalizer on the angle from close range with two minutes still on the clock. It had been a spectacle of high drama and the first time I’d ever seen such a partisan Australian crowd filling the Sydney Sportsground to its 32,500 capacity.

Israel keeper Visoker safely takes a high cross against Australia in Sydney  

John Watkiss (on ground) scores the equalizer for Australia's 1-1 draw with Israel at the Sydney Sportsground

Despite all of the problems emanating from those FIFA decisions, the contest had been decided by the barest of margins. Astute FIFA coach Dettmar Cramer commented that “the Australians used the wrong tactics” and explained that stopper Zvi Rosen should have been marked out of the game to disrupt Israel’s play. Yet we can only wonder as to what might have happened if the ASF had agreed to the Australian team entering camp immediately upon arriving home rather than waiting until two days before the match. Or if the travel arrangements had been more expertly organized. From a supporters point of view the whole campaign left a bad taste in the mouth, especially after the Australian team had performed admirably under trying circumstances.  

Johnny Warren (left) during a tense moment in the Sydney match against Israel

The only TV coverage of the overseas matches was shown months after the event in black & white by the ABC. There had been live coverage of the Rhodesia games by Martin Royal for ABC radio 2BL in Sydney, the link being made possible via radio telephone from Laurenco Marques. The only colour footage from this campaign that I ever saw came from Johnny Warren himself, a few minutes filmed on his home movie camera from one of the South Korea v Japan games in Seoul. What fascinated him and my family so much was the unison flag waving by the supporters in the stadium who were dressed in the respective team colours of both countries, something we hadn’t seen before but which of course is now commonplace.

Mexico 1970

Israel went on to perform capably at the World Cup in Mexico during June 1970, the competition at that time still being restricted to only sixteen teams. Although finishing fourth in their group, they achieved creditable draws against both Italy and Sweden with the only defeat being 2-0 to Uruguay. I’d been hoping to attend the World Cup myself after entering a Daily Mirror competition to win an all-expenses paid trip. Various photographs from the previous 1966 World Cup were published in the newspaper and one had to correctly identify the matches they represented. No easy task but I was convinced victory was in sight and I was proven to be correct – along with about 1200 other hopefuls. An additional tiebreaker series of photographs was then published, these considerably more oblique images defeating me only at the final hurdle – just like the Australian team.