Written by Thomas Esamie, Greg Stock and Jean-Michel Cazal. Thanks to Kevin Christopher for the use of his personal material and John Punshon for the cross referencing of material. For more details see credits.
| Australias first attempt to qualify for the World Cup finals was in 1965. Drawn to play against North Korea in a two legged series the winner was to take the 16th qualifying position in England the following year. The two match series was played in neutral Cambodia front of a large and vocal crowd. This was a World Cup qualifying match. | ||||
| Played : November 21 1965 | Venue : Stade Olympique, Phnom-Penh, Cambodia | |||
| North Korea Li Chan Myung, Pak Li Sub, Shin Yung Kyoo, Kang Bong Chil, Lim Zoong Sun, On Seung Hwi, Han Bong Jin, Pak Do Ik, Pak Seung Jin, Kang Ryong Woon, Kim Seung II Goals : Pak Seung Jin 54, 80, Han Bong Jin 65, 88, Pak Do Ik 15, On Seung Hwi 58 |
6 | - | 1 | Australia John Roberts, Nigel Shepherd, Stanley Ackerley, Patrick Hughes, William Rice, Ludwig 'Les' Scheinflug, Geoffrey Sleight, John Anderson, Archibald Blue, John Watkiss, David Todd Goal : Scheinflug 70pk |
| Referee : Patrick Nice (Malaysia) Attendance : 60,000 Coach : Tiko Jelisavcic (Australia) | ||||
| This match was the second of the two match World Cup qualifying series against North Korea for the 1966 World Cup. This was a World Cup qualifying match. | ||||
| Played : November 24 1965 | Venue : Stade Olympique, Phnom-Penh, Cambodia | |||
| North Korea Li Chan Myung, Pak Li Sub, Shin Yung Kyoo, Kang Bong Chil, Lim Zoong Sun, In Seung Hwi, Han Bong Jin, Kim Yung Kil, Pak Seung Jin, Kang Ryong Woon, Kim Seung II Goals : Kim Seung II 18, 75, Pak Seung Jin 53 |
3 | - | 1 | Australia William Rorke, Nigel Shepherd, William Cook, Patrick Hughes, William Rice, John Watkiss, Roy Blitz, John Anderson, Steve Herczeg, Les Scheinflug, James Pearson Goal : Scheinflug 15 |
| Referee : AG de Silva (Singapore) Attendance : 55,000 Coach : Tiko Jelisavcic (Australia) | ||||
| Whilst in Phnom-Penh the Australian side played against the Cambodian national team after their disasterous World Cup campaign. This was a friendly match. | ||||
| Played : November 26 1965 | Venue : Stade Olympique, Phnom-Penh, Cambodia | |||
| Cambodia Lim Sak, Tol Kim Chi, Y Leang, Yang Tramon, Va Sum (Huy Chamrong), Van Roeun (Pen Phat), Doeur Sokhom, Hun Savuth, Duong Duc, Neou Kandien (Chaet Bong), Kaem San |
0 | - | 0 | Australia William Rorke, Nigel Shepherd, Stan Ackerley, Pat Hughes (John Anderson), John Watkiss, John Warren, Roy Blitz (Archie Blue), Hammy McMeechan, Ian Johnston, Ron Giles, Dave Todd (Geoff Sleight) |
| Coaches : Vladimir Mirka (Cambodia),
Tiko Jelisavcic (Australia) Attendance : 20,000 | ||||
| The Australian team travelled to Hong Kong where they played a match against the Hong Kong national team. This match was part of a small tournament that also included Swedish club side AIK Stockholm who incidentally won the series by beating Hong Kong 5-2. This was a friendly match. | ||||
| Played : November 29 1965 | Venue : Hong Kong | |||
| Hong Kong Mui Wing Tat, Lok Tak Hing, Lai Po Chung, Lee Ping Chung, Kung Wah Kit, Leung Kam Yung, Lee Kwo Keung, Wallis, McLaren, Ho Cheung Yau, Chan Shek Cheung Goal : McLaren (22) |
1 | - | 0 | Australia William Rorke, Nigel Shepherd, Billy Cook, Pat Hughes, Billy Rice, John Watkiss, Jim Pearson, John Anderson, Ian Johnston (Hammy McMeechan), John Warren, Dave Todd |
| Coach : Tiko Jelisavcic (Australia) | ||||
| This was the second match played in Hong Kong
during the Australian tour of South East Asia, but this match was played
against Nationalist China now known as Taiwan. This match earnt front page
coverage in Australian newspapers following a riot which broke out at
the end of the match after a very spiteful and brusing encounter between
the two teams. The Australian players left the field by police escort but
were pelted with stones and bottles while several of the rioters were
arrested. No Australian player was injured. This was, nevertheless, a
friendly match. It has come to our attention that this side may infact have been a Hong Kong XI rather than the Taiwan national team. One suspects that the truth lies somewhere in between, for now the match remains here. | ||||
| Played : December 3 1965 | Venue : Hong Kong Stadium | |||
| Taiwan Cheung Kin Che (Kwok Tak Sin 10), Law Pak, Kwok Kam Hung, Chan Fai Hung, Tse Kwok Keung, Wong Man Wai, Wong Chi Keung, Cheung Chi Doy, Cheung Chi Wai, Yiu Cheuk Yin, Mok Chun Wah Goal : Cheung Chi Wai 50pk |
1 | - | 3 | Australia William Rorke, Nigel Shepherd, Stan Ackerley, Pat Hughes, Billy Cook (sent off 68), John Watkiss, Roy Blitz, Jim Pearson, Archie Blue, John Warren (Steve Herczeg), Dave Todd Goals : Blue 5, 7, 58 |
| Attendance : 13,800 Referee : Fred Pratlett Coach : Tiko Jelisavcic (Australia) | ||||
| This match was a friendly played against Malaysia on Australias tour of South East Asia. A return match was played the following day. This was a friendly match. | ||||
| Played : December 7 1965 | Venue : Perak Stadium, Ipoh, Malaysia. | |||
| Malaysia Teh Cheung Lee, Yee Seng Choi (Abdullah Noordin), Foo Fook Chaun, Soo Toh Kim Poh, Chandran (Hoo Woon Hung), Ibrahim Mydin, Balan, Richard Choe, Latiff Ibrahim, N.Thanabalan, Mazlan Hamid |
0 | - | 1 | Australia William Rorke, Nigel Shepherd, Stan Ackerley, Pat Hughes, Billy Cook, John Watkiss, Roy Blitz (Hammy McMeechan), John Anderson (Ron Giles), Archie Blue, Jim Pearson, Dave Todd Goal : Pearson |
| Attendance : 1,000 Coach : Tiko Jelisavcic (Australia) | ||||
| This was the second friendly match played against Malaysia on the tour of South East Asia. The match was hastily arranged after the first match when the Malaysian team management decided that they would like to "have another crack" at the Australian side following their one nil loss in the first match. The Australian team management sportingly agreed and the match was played only 24 hours after the previous match in Ipoh. This was a friendly match. | ||||
| Played : December 8 1965 | Venue : Perak Stadium, Ipoh, Malaysia | |||
| Malaysia Teh Cheung Lee, Soo Toh Kim Poh, Foo Fook Chaun, Abdullah Noordin, Richard Choe, Agus Salim (Yee Seng Choi), Teoh Peng Cooi, Mazlan Hamid (Ho Woon Hung), Ibrahim Mydin, Thanabalan (Tanagor), Latiff Ibrahim |
0 | - | 3 | Australia William Rorke, Nigel Shepherd, Stan Ackerley, John Watkiss, Billy Cook, Les Scheinflug, Hammy McMeechan, John Warren, Archie Blue (Ian Johnston), Jim Pearson, Dave Todd Goals : Todd 54, Johnston 65, Scheinflug 84pk |
| Attendance : 300 Coach : Tiko Jelisavcic (Australia) | ||||