Source: Page Authors and Daily Newspapers

Friendly Matches
Saturday July 19 1969 Sydney Cricket Ground, Moore Park, Sydney, Australia Referee: Tony Boskovic (Australia) Assistant Referees: Harold Parsons and Norm Jones (Australia) Attendance: 24,129
AUSTRALIA Ron Corry, Manfred Schaefer, John Watkiss, Alan Marnoch, Stan Ackerley, Danny Walsh, John Warren, Adrian Alston (Tommy McColl 46), Atti Abonyi, Ray Baartz, Billy Vojtek Coach: Joe Vlasits Goal: Abonyi 60 pen	1	-	0	Greece Nikos Hristfidis (Kostas Saraliotis 26), Babis Intzoglou, Apostolos Toskas, Angelos Spiridon, Athanasius Intzoglou, Stavros Sarafis, Giorgos Dedes (Neotakos Hatzionnoglou 75), Efstathios Haitas (c) (Dimitrios Papaioannou 46), Kostas Aidiniou, Mihalis Kritikopoulos, Giorgos Karafeskos Coach: Dan Giorgiadis
Greece toured Australia in 1969 as a warm-up for Australia facing a World Cup qualifying series later in the year. The Greek national side were also using the tour as preperation for their remaining world cup qualifiers against Romania. A series of three matches was played with the first in Sydney in front of 30,000 including an interested Prime Minister in Mr Gough Whitlam.
Wednesday July 23 1969 Exhibition Ground, Bowen Hills, Brisbane, Australia Referee: Harold Parsons (Australia) Assistant Referees: Vince Dobinson and John Adams (Australia) Attendance: 8,649
AUSTRALIA Ron Corry, Manfred Schaefer, John Watkiss, Alan Marnoch, Stan Ackerley, Danny Walsh (Ray Lloyd 80), John Warren, Tommy McColl, Atti Abonyi, Ray Baartz, Billy Vojtek Coach: Joe Vlatsis Goals: Vojtek 48, Baartz 62	2	-	2	Greece Kostas Saraliotis, Babis Intzoglou, Angelos Spiridon, Apostolos Toskas, Athanasius Intzoglou, Giorgos Karafeskos, Efstathios Haitas (c), Giorgos Dedes, Dimitris Papaioannou (Kostas Davourlis 75), Mihalis Kritikopoulos (sent off 89), Takis Hatzionnoglou Coach: Dan Giorgiadis Goals: Dedes 19, 46 Red Card: Kritikopoulos 89
After the match in Sydney the Greek coach Dan Giorgiadis gave his team a good serve and it was a different Greek side that came out intent on taking the game by any means possible. In the second half the Greek players went out of their way to physically intimidate the Australians by kicking and punching until the referee Mr Parsons took control and sent off a Greek player. The Greek coach was also ordered off the field by the referee several times and it was a credit to the Australian players that they did not retaliate in this bruising encounter.
Sunday July 27 1969 Olympic Park, Melbourne, Australia Referee: Vince Dobinson (Australia) Linesmen: Lou Stafrace and Geoff Harrison (Australia) Attendance: 24,416
AUSTRALIA Ron Corry, Manfred Schaefer, John Watkiss, Alan Marnoch, Stan Ackerley (Billy Rice 68), Ray Lloyd (Danny Walsh 58), Tommy McColl, Atti Abonyi, John Warren, Ray Baartz, Billy Vojtek Coach: Joe Vlasits	0	-	2	Greece Nikos Hristidis, Babis Intzoglou, Angelos Spiridon, Apstolos Toskas, Athanasius Intzoglou, Efstathois Haitas (c), Giorgos Dedes (Kostas Aidiniou 44), Stavros Sarafis, Mihalis Kritikopoulos, Giorgos Karafeskos, Takis Hatzionnoglou (Dimitris Papaioannou 46) Coach: Dan Giorgiadis Goals: Dedes 22, Papaioannou 55
The third match in Melbourne saw the home side fall to pieces with some bad finishing. Several oppurtunities were missed and Australia only had itself to blame for not being competitive in the game. The series finishing one all with one drawn.
World Cup Qualifiers
Friday October 10 1969 Dongdaemum Stadium, Seoul, South Korea Referee: Patrick Nice (Malaysia) Attendance: 10,500
Japan Kenzo Yokoyama, Yoshitada Yamaguchi, Hiroshi Katayama, Mitsuo Kamata, Tadao Onishi, Takaji Mori, Aritatsu Ogi (Masakatsu Miyamoto), Teruki Miyamoto, Masashi Watanabe (Takeo Kimura 28), Yasuyuki Kuwahara, Ryuichiu Sugiyama Coach: Ken Naganuma Goal: Watanabe 11	1	-	3	AUSTRALIA Ron Corry, George Keith, Manfred Schaefer, Alan Marnoch (Gary Manuel), Stan Ackerley, John Warren (c), John Watkiss, Tommy McColl, Atti Abonyi, Ray Baartz, John Perin (Billy Vojtek 60) Coach: Joe Vlasits Goals: McColl 5, Ogi 68 Own Goal, Baartz 69
The Australian teams next assignment was to fly to Seoul for the Elimination Round of the 1970 World Cup. Drawn with South Korea and Japan, three days after arriving the team was lining up to play their first game on a freezing Seoul day aginst the Japanese.
Tuesday October 14 1969 Dongdaemum Stadium, Seoul, South Korea Referee: G.Suppiah (Singapore) Attendance: 25,000
South Korea Son Cho-Myung, Kim Jung-Suk, Kim Ho, Kim Jung-Nam, Cho Chung-Soo, Seo Yoon-Chan, Park Lee-Chun, Lee Lee-Woo, Park Soo-Il, Kim Ki-Bok (Hoo In-Woong), Lee Hoe-Taik Coach: Not Recorded Goal: Lee Lee-Woo 45	1	-	2	AUSTRALIA Ron Corry, George Keith, Manfred Schaefer, Alan Marnoch (Gary Manual), Stan Ackerley, John Warren (c), John Watkiss, Tommy McColl, Atti Abonyi, Ray Baartz, Billy Vojtek Coach: Joe Vlasits Goals: Watkiss 39, McColl 82
Australias second match was against the home side South Korea. The match was a very physical one but saw Australia take a commanding position after beating both sides and seeing Japan and South Korea draw. The Australians were pelted at the completion of the match by a hostile home crowd with bottles and cans before police escorted the side into the dressing room.
Thursday October 16 1969 Dongdaemum Stadium, Seoul, South Korea Referee: Wanchai Suvaree (Thailand) Linesmen: Cheung (Formosa) and Patrick Nice (Malaysia) Attendance: 6,000
Japan Kenzo Yokoyama, Hiroshi Katayama, Mitsuo Kamata, Tsuyoshi Kunieda, Yoshidata Yamaguchi, Aritatsu Ogi, Ikuo Matsumoto (Masashi Watanabe 78), Takaji Mori (Junji Kawano 78), Teruki Miyamoto, Yasuyuki Kuwahara, Ryuichi Sugiyama Coach: Ken Naganuma Goal: Miyamoto 4	1	-	1	AUSTRALIA Ron Corry, George Keith, Manfred Schaefer, Alan Marnoch, Stan Ackerley, John Warren (c), John Watkiss, Tommy McColl, Atti Abonyi, Ray Baartz, Billy Vojtek Coach: Joe Vlasits Goal: McColl 39
The third match was the return game against Japan (the three teams played each other twice). The result was a draw although Australia had a second goal disallowed after the referee changed his earlier decision. The referee awarded the goal before the linesmen drew the refereees attention to a supposed indiscretion. The goal was then reversed into a Japan free kick. There was another refereeing incident later in the match when Tom McColl was upended in the box with no penalty.
Monday October 20 1969 Dongdaemum Stadium, Seoul, South Korea Referee: Patrick Nice (Malaysia) Attendance: 25,000
South Korea So Cho-Myung, Kim Jung-Suk, Kim Ho, Kim Jung-Nam, Cho Chung-Soo, Kim Ki-Bok, Seo Yoon-Chan, Park Lee-Chun, Lee Lee-Woo, Lee Hoe-Taik, Park Soo-Il Coach: Not Recorded Goal: Park Soo-Il 35	1	-	1	AUSTRALIA Ron Corry, George Keith, Manfred Schaefer, Alan Marnoch (David Zeman), Stan Ackerley, John Warren (c), John Perin, Tommy McColl, Atti Abonyi (Willie Rutherford), Ray Baartz, Billy Vojtek Coach: Joe Vlasits Goal: Baartz 58
The last of the round-robin matches was against South Korea. In the second game between South Korea and Japan, South Korea had won and it meant that they had a chance to win the tournament should they beat Australia. Australian coach Joe Vlasits gambled a little with a few untried players but his selections worked out when Australia escaped with a draw and won the series to advance to the next round against Rhodesia. The game was an exciting one and saw Australia have a goal disallowed and keeper Ron Corry save a South Korean penalty.
Group 15 Qualifying Tournament Final Table Pos Team P W D L GF GA GD Pts 1 AUSTRALIA 4 2 2 0 7 4 3 6 2 South Korea 4 1 2 1 6 5 1 4 3 Japan 4 0 2 2 4 8 -4 2
Note: Australia advance to the next phase of World Cup qualifying.
Sunday November 23 1969 Salazar Stadium, Laurenco Marques, Mozambique Referee: Saldanha Antonio Ribeiro (Portugal) Attendance: 6,500
Rhodesia Robin Jordon, Stuart Knowles, Philemon Tigere, Peter Haddon, James Chibaya (Adolf Mutama), William Sibanda, Topsy Robertson, James Nyumalo, Bobby Chalmers (c), Hylton Grainger, George Shaya Coach: Danny McLennan Goal: Chalmers 63	1	-	1	AUSTRALIA Ron Corry, George Keith, Manfred Schaefer, Alan Marnoch, Stan Ackerley (c), Danny Walsh, Adrian Alston (John Watkiss), Willie Rutherford (Billy Vojtek), Atti Abonyi, Ray Baartz, Tommy McColl Coach: Joe Vlasits Goal: McColl 68
There was much controversy before the next round of World Cup Qualifiers. Australias next opponents Rhodesia had been told by the Mexican Government that even if they won series they would not be granted visas to compete in the finals. This was due to the Southern Rhodesian governments treatment of the native population at the time. It then followed that these matches were of no importance but it was decided at the last minute to go ahead and so Australia played. Nothing much was known about the Rhodesians who were made up of mostly non-white players. The Australian team was without inspirational captain Johnny Warren after he was taken sick, and proceeded to keep Rhodesia in the match by wasting numerous scoring oppurtunities.
Thursday November 27 1969 Salazar Stadium, Laurenco Marques, Mozambique Referee: Saldanha Antonio Ribeiro (Portugal) Attendance: 3,500
Rhodesia Robin Jordan, Stuart Knowles, Philemon Tigere, Peter Haddon, Adolf Mutama, Isaac Chieza, William Sibanda, Topsy Robertson, Bobby Chalmers (c), Hylton Grainger (Gibson Homela), Nelson Mapara Coach: Danny McLennan	0	-	0	AUSTRALIA Ron Corry, George Keith, Manfred Schaefer, Alan Marnoch, Stan Ackerley, John Warren (c), Danny Walsh, Atti Abonyi, John Watkiss (Willie Rutherford), Ray Baartz, Billy Vojtek Coach: Joe Vlasits
The second match of the series again played in neutral Mozambique and saw Australia completely dominate their opponents. Again bad finishing and ineffectual shooting cost Australia as it let Rhodesia off the hook. The match was also broadcast by the ABC's Martin Royal for the fans back in Australia.
Saturday November 29 1969 Salazar Stadium, Laurenco Marques, Mozambique Referee: Saldanha Antonio Ribeiro (Portugal) Attendance: 1,500
Rhodesia Robin Jordan (Stewart Gilbert 35), Stuart Knowles, Philemon Tigere, Peter Haddon, Adolf Mutama, Isaac Chieza, William Sibanda, Topsy Robertson, Bobby Chalmers (c), Hylton Grainger, Nelson Mapara Coach: Danny McLennan Goal: Chalmers 49	1	-	3	AUSTRALIA Ron Corry, George Keith, Manfred Schaefer, Alan Marnoch, John Perin (David Zeman), John Warren (c), Danny Walsh, Atti Abonyi, Willie Rutherford, Ray Baartz (Adrian Alston), Billy Vojtek Coach: Joe Vlasits Goals: Rutherford 12, Tigere 22 Own Goal, Warren 56
In the third game (due to the two draws) Australia finally overwhelmed the stubborn Rhodesians. With only two days between games the Australian side responded well to the flak that had greeted their last match and put on a much better display to advance to the next round of World Cup qualifiers.
Thursday December 4 1969 National Stadium, Ramat-Gan, Tel Aviv, Israel Referee: Ferdinand Marschall (Austria) Attendance: 41,899
Israel Itzhak Vissoker, Shraga Bar (Moti Lubetski 76), Aharon Shuruk, Zvi Rosen, Menachem Bello, Shmuel Rosenthal, Mordechai Spiegler (c), Giora Spiegel, Rahamim Talbi, Yehoshua Feigenbaum, Itzhak Shum Coach: Emmanuel Scheffer Goal: Spiegler 18	1	-	0	AUSTRALIA Ron Corry, George Keith, Manfred Schaefer, David Zeman, Stan Ackerley, John Perin, Atti Abonyi, John Watkiss, John Warren (c), Willie Rutherford, Tommy McColl (Billy Vojtek 72) Coach: Joe Vlasits
Immediately following the match against Rhodesia Australia flew directly to Israel where they were due to play Israel in the next stage of the World Cup elimination series. Ron Corry, the Australian goalkeeper kept the side in the game pulling off some great saves as well as saving a penalty. In the end it was the Israeli sides fitness and technique that saw them prevail.
Sunday December 14 1969 Sydney Sports Ground, Moore Park, Sydney, Australia Referee: Ferdinand Marschall (Austria) Attendance: 29,737
AUSTRALIA Ron Corry, George Keith, Manfred Schaefer, Alan Marnoch, Stan Ackerley, Danny Walsh, John Warren (c), Atti Abonyi, John Watkiss, Ray Baartz, Billy Vojtek (Willie Rutherford 60) Coach: Joe Vlasits Goal: Watkiss 88	1	-	1	Israel Itzhak Visoker, Shraga Bar, David Primo, Zvi Rosen, Menachem Bello, Shmuel Rosenthal, Giora Spiegel, Meir Barad (Rachamim Talbi 60), Yehoshua Feigenboim, Mordechai Spiegler, Itzhak Shum (David Karako 88) Coach: Emmanuel Scheffer Goals: Spiegler 78
Australias bowed out of the World Cup race with a 1-1 draw in front of a capacity crowd at Sydney's Sports Ground. Australia played well but it was again the finesse and tactics of the Israelis that saw them home despite a late flurry from the home side. The 'away' draw enough for Isreal take the two leg series. Match Day Programme

Last updated: 20 December 2023.