The All Whites are finally returning to Dunedin next week - just 25 years after their last visit. It is also a return to the South for New Caledonia, as long-serving Otago Daily Times football writer Rab Smith explains.
The All Whites v New Caledonia match grabs centre stage next week, but there will be a few senior citizens getting misty-eyed when they remember the last time New Caledonia played in Dunedin.
It was 1972 when the Pacific Islanders came to Dunedin to play Otago as part of a national tour.
Those were the days of the old national league, which started in 1970. There was real excitement when amalgamated side Dunedin Suburbs took on Blockhouse Bay, Eastern Suburbs and Christchurch United.
In 1971, Dunedin Suburbs finished sixth. An indication of the excitement generated in Otago was that total attendances at the old Caledonian that year added up to 9243 spectators, and they were as noisy as any in the country.
New Caledonia, playing at home in Noumea, had beaten a Barrie Truman-coached New Zealand side 4-2 and 2-1 in 1971, so there was keen interest in a return tour by New Caledonia in 1972, which featured eight matches from Auckland to Invercargill.
Otago's team included goalkeeper Jim Taylor, Graeme Parker, Brian Boomer, Denis Hayde, Ike Nitis, Selwynn White, Mitch Goodall, Denis Barker, Robbie Neilson and Brian Duncan.
In a tight match, Wacapo scored to give New Caledonia a 1-0 win.
Taylor, then described as the best uncapped keeper in New Zealand, lives in Lawrence these days, but he might tear himself away from fly fishing to attend next week's World Cup qualifier at the stadium.
Taylor's reputation was possibly built on his ability to defy gravity, and make spring-heeled saves while playing in ankle-deep mud. How different it is now with Forsyth Barr Stadium's perfect turf and weather-tight conditions.
Neilson, a regular spectator at ASB Premiership matches, still looks capable of scoring goals, which he did in abundance in the national league, totalling 20 goals for Caversham.
Duncan is now back in Edinburgh, happily retired, with his only worry lines directed at the plight of his favourite team, Heart of Midlothian.
While Otago lost to the New Caledonians in 1972, Southland did well to draw 1-1. Unsurprisingly, young Malcolm Ferguson scored Southland's goal, and the result was a measure of the strength of southern football at that time.
Southland teams won both divisions in the Southern League that year. Invercargill City finished four points ahead of Christchurch side Western, and the competition included heavyweights from those days, Christchurch United, Rangers and Shamrock.
