The late 1950s and early 60s were a tumultuous time for the round ball game in Australia. Immigration from Europe brought enthusiasm for the sport from new communities establishing themselves in the country, from which the basis of clubs and the culture which dominated the sport in Australia until the revolutionary process began in 2003 developed.
In the 1950s tours by foreign clubs were commonplace, with Blackpool in 1958 among the most notable and successful. However, Australia would be suspended by FIFA in 1959 and not re-admitted until 1963, which prevented foreign clubs from visiting our shores.
It would be Everton who were the first foreign club to tour Australia following the lifting of the suspension, coming after a season in which they had finished third in a very strong First Division, behind Liverpool who had won their first Championship under Bill Shankly, and Manchester United whose rebuilt side was on the verge of domestic and ultimately European glory. Harry Catterick’s Everton outfit won the club’s first post-war Championship the previous season with a setup featuring Gordon West, Alex Parker, Sandy Brown, Mick Meagan, Jimmy Gabriel, Brian Labone, Brian Harris, Tony Kay, Alex Scott, Dennis Stevens, Alex Young, Roy Vernon and Johnny Morrissey. Everton were seemingly on course to win back-to-back titles in 1964, only to tail off in the final month of the season. Most of the players mentioned above would be included in the tour to Australia, and there was also second-choice goalkeeper Andy Rankin who would later become a stalwart at Watford in the 1970s. A future Blues legend, Colin Harvey, would also make his debut that season.
The 1963-64 run ended in April and the tour of Australia took place in May. Different times then, as the Football League season did not always have the same end periods and not all teams finished up on the final weekend of the season. Keep in mind that the previous year was basically split in half by the Big Freeze as well.
That Everton were synonymous with class, recognised not only in English football, made for an attractive draw on tour. It was the chance for Australian audiences to see one of the leading lights of English football in the day, an exposure to the highest level of the sport hitherto. Two games would be played against the Australian national team (known in later years as the Socceroos). In Melbourne on May 10 1964, Australia found themselves overwhelmed 8-2 by the visitors in front of over 32,000 people. Jimmy Gabriel and Roy Vernon helped themselves to hat-tricks and Derek Temple got a brace for good measure. Six days later in Sydney, 40,000 saw Everton win 5-1 with Johnny Morrissey getting a brace, while Gabriel, Alex Scott and Colin Harvey also scored.
Matches against state representative teams (remember this was pre-NSL days!) were also played. NSW were beaten 4-1, South Australia 3-0, Western Australia 14-1, Victoria 3-1 and Northern NSW 8-1. Interesting to note that some of the state teams kept the scorelines somewhat respectable, whereas others wrote themselves into the record books for the wrong reasons. In any case, crowds through the country on tour were generally large.
Although not too much can be drawn from tours, the scorelines can be taken to reflect the fact that Australia was in footballing terms considered as something even less than a backwater, and the sport was in the shadows of two or three other major football codes, as much as it reflected the excellence of Harry Catterick’s team. Everton would do another tour of Australia in 2010, when everything was so very different. Club tours have a long tradition, but they serve a radically different purpose today to what they served half a century ago.
The following year, Australia would play its first World Cup qualifiers. As the Socceroos would feature in the tournament at the third attempt (1974), some progress was made at least…
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