Football: '82 road trip a one-off but goal now the same

Long-serving Otago Daily Times football writer Rab Smith reflects on his memories of the 1982 World Cup and considers the prospect of New Zealand returning to the tournament in 2010.

The Spanish World Cup in 1982 might have been a film written with a perfect scenario, as the All Whites played Brazil, Scotland and Russia and were accompanied by what seemed like all of Dunedin's football fans milling around in Malaga.

You couldn't pass a taverna or a cafe without seeing Barry van Gorp or Bryan Cunningham or Les Watson.

Football administrators, supporters, players and referees all headed for Spain to support their national team.

After all, All Whites star Steve Wooddin was an Otago import, and in a warm-up prior to Spain, a huge crowd turned up at the old Caledonian Ground to watch Wooddin and his team-mates play against the League of Ireland.

The official Otago touring party to Spain was well organised by van Gorp, but my mate Mike Richmond and I decided to fly solo and after reaching London, bought an ancient VW and backfired our way south to the Iberian Peninsula.

In a typical Spanish welcome, our car was burgled just after we crossed the border, then there was an educational interview with La Policia and Guarda Civil who treated us as if we were the criminals.

Before we were allowed to leave town, we had to report back with an interpreter, and it would require too many chapters to describe our helper, an obliging fellow who made a living driving his speedboat at night to Tangiers, and was always accompanied by two tough-looking minders.

Minus credit cards, cameras, press accreditation and other burgled items, Mike and I continued south and met up with the Otago group, who were living in spartan skyscrapers near Nerja.

Their vertical concrete village hardly compared with our digs at Capistrano, a white, classical Spanish hilltop village that looked ancient but was in fact near new, recently built by a Canadian entrepreneur.

Capistrano was inhabited by a host of middle-aged, blue-rinsed British housewives, who could breaststroke in the superb series of swimming pools without making a ripple.

But when a couple of busloads of Scots football supporters arrived, and dived in, the ladies vanished, and the kilted Tartan Army, complete with plastic sombreros, took over.

We happily joined the Scots group at games in Malaga, and that match between New Zealand and Scotland was a tour highlight as the All Whites fought back to 3-2 down before half-time.

Steve Sumner scored, then Wooddin, who said of his goal: "I was just on the edge of the penalty area, so it must have been 20 or 21 yards. The keeper got his hand to it, but as soon as I hit it, I knew it was going in."

In the second half, New Zealand's flags faltered when Scotland pulled away to a 5-2 win, but at the aftermatch in pubs all round the ground, both sets of supporters sang their hearts out until the wee small hours.

It's hard to imagine South Africa generating the same naive, idyllic atmosphere, and of course this time Scotland will just be watching the tournament on television.

Comparisons? I can hardly imagine match tickets ever costing as little as they did in Spain, where you bought a booklet of entry tickets for a few pesetas, tore out the ticket you wanted and chucked the rest.

Cheapest tickets for the final in South Africa will officially cost $US400 ($NZ540), and there are seats available at $US1000.

Ouch.

Also, while there may be some adventurers thinking of a Land Rover journey through Africa, it would struggle to match our VW's route through France, Switzerland, Italy and Spain, checking out vineyards along the way.

After the 1982 World Cup there were many recriminations that football in New Zealand did not harness the huge interest generated.

The simple truth was that although thousands of children wanted to enrol in clubs, there was simply not the manpower and finance available to absorb them and maintain the momentum.

If the All Whites manage to win qualification to South Africa this weekend, there will be a similar groundswell of budding Ryan Nelsens wanting to sign up.

The question is whether a large increase can be absorbed into what is already a code bursting at the seams with keen youngsters.

Time will tell.