Latics v Foreign teams at BP?

[Latics and England]

I thought he went to Wrexham, taking advantage of the less stringent rules in Wales. I could easily be wrong though.

 

Hull City 1999-2000. IIRC some clubs had less of a problem in getting work permits.

[Diego_Sideburns]

I thought he went to Wrexham, taking advantage of the less stringent rules in Wales. I could easily be wrong though.

 

I though the same, and seem to remember challenging Wrexham fans about how they got round the rules, but I can only find Hull City on Wiki...........which must be true.

[Diego_Sideburns]

I though the same, and seem to remember challenging Wrexham fans about how they got round the rules, but I can only find Hull City on Wiki...........which must be true.

Thinking more about it, Wrexham didn't sign Gumbs but signed other player(s) from countries not in the FIFA top 75.

[BP1960]

Thinking more about it, Wrexham didn't sign Gumbs but signed other player(s) from countries not in the FIFA top 75.

 

According to this list we signed midfielder Øssur Hansen of the Faroe Islands in 1999, I can't remember him playing.

 

The up to date list is quite useful though;

http://www.worldfootball.net/teams/oldham-athletic/10/

Edited July 25, 2016 by BP1960

[BP1960]

n/t

Edited July 25, 2016 by BP1960

[BP1960]

We went to Hungary and Austria in 1910/11 and played six matches - the Austro-Hungarian Empire hosting the Latics!

That was a heck of an effort pre-airline days

 

 

Oldham Athletic FC

Tour of 191125-5-1911  Budapest    Ferencváros TC-Oldham Athletic           2-2  D26-5-1911  Budapest    Magyar TK Budapest-Oldham Athletic       1-2  W28-5-1911  Wien        Oldham Athletic-Blackburn Rovers         1-0  W31-5-1911  Wien        Oldham Athletic-Blackburn Rovers         2-5  L 4-6-1911  Wien        Wiener Sport Club-Oldham Athletic        2-1  L   5-6-1911  Wien        Wiener Association FK-Oldham Athletic    0-1  W

Edited July 25, 2016 by BP1960

[LaticsPete]

A couple more matches....

As part of the Festival of Britain in 1951 lots of games were played between British clubs and some from the Republic of Ireland. Latics had two matches at Boundary Park:

 

May 9th v Cork Athletic Latics won 4-0 (Cork Ath folded in 1957)

May 12th v Bohemians Latics won 2-1

Edited July 26, 2016 by LaticsPete

[Summerdeep]

On 7/21/2016 at 4:13 PM, BP1960 said:

I came across this 1971 programme on ebay, and I'm trying to rack my brains as to the foreign teams we have played at BP.

As well as Borussia Dortmund (think it was 0-0) I remember teams from Brazil, Italy, Czechoslovakia (not sure who they were) and Switzerland (FC Thun).

Has anyone a comprehensive list?

 

If anyone's still interested: the match against Groningen was a pre-season friendly in 1972. We lost 1-0, to a headed goal which went in off the crossbar in the first minute. Dutch sides dominated European football in the early 1970s, and we barely got a kick in this match, not surprising really as they were in the top division (Eredivisie), and we were in the old Div 3.

 

There's also been some mention of the friendly against Brazilian side Internacional in February 1975. Night match on a cold evening in front of around 10,000 spectators. Internacional won 1-0 with a goal scored by a guy called Tovar Romaritz a few minutes from time, a typically Brazilian wickedly swerving effort. I think the visitors' manager singled out Alan Groves for particular praise, saying that he could've got into the Brazilian national side except for the fact that he couldn't cross the ball!

On 7/21/2016 at 4:13 PM, BP1960 said:

 

http://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/KkIAAOSw5dNWq6H1/s-l1600.jpg

 

[another fan]

On 7/22/2016 at 7:47 PM, fanakapan said:

Remember a Belgrade outfit in the mid sixties. Think it was OFK Belgrade won 3-1

My very first match, Second game under floodlights at BP,  First being Burnley. 

55/56 years later feeling what the Fxxk did I let myself for

[Summerdeep]

Re previous post about the match against SC Internacional from Brazil on 25 February 1975. I'd never heard of them at the time, and didn't realize what a great side they were. They actually won the Campeonato Brasileiro Serie A (ie their 'Premier League') in both 1975 and 1976.

 

In the side which played at Boundary Park were Valdomiro, who played in the 1974 World Cup, and a 21-year-old Paulo Roberto Falcão, who was one of Brazil's superstars  in the 1982 World Cup, alongside the likes of Socrates, Zico and Eder.

 

The Latics match was part of a 14 game European tour, of which they won 13 and drew 1. They scored fifty goals and conceded just one, though admittedly some of the opposition wasn't that great (it did include VFB Stuttgart and Newcastle Utd however).

 

Here's a couple of web pages that are quite interesting, though obviously they're in Portuguese:

 

https://legado.internacional.com.br/conteudo?modulo=2&setor=18&codigo=1411

 

https://terceirotempo.uol.com.br/noticias/achados-perdidos-a-invicta-excursao-do-inter-pela-europa-em-1975-com-fotos-maravilhosas

[unsworth blue]

2 hours ago, Summerdeep said:

Re previous post about the match against SC Internacional from Brazil on 25 February 1975. I'd never heard of them at the time, and didn't realize what a great side they were. They actually won the Campeonato Brasileiro Serie A (ie their 'Premier League') in both 1975 and 1976.

 

In the side which played at Boundary Park were Valdomiro, who played in the 1974 World Cup, and a 21-year-old Paulo Roberto Falcão, who was one of Brazil's superstars  in the 1982 World Cup, alongside the likes of Socrates, Zico and Eder.

 

The Latics match was part of a 14 game European tour, of which they won 13 and drew 1. They scored fifty goals and conceded just one, though admittedly some of the opposition wasn't that great (it did include VFB Stuttgart and Newcastle Utd however).

 

Here's a couple of web pages that are quite interesting, though obviously they're in Portuguese:

 

https://legado.internacional.com.br/conteudo?modulo=2&setor=18&codigo=1411

 

https://terceirotempo.uol.com.br/noticias/achados-perdidos-a-invicta-excursao-do-inter-pela-europa-em-1975-com-fotos-maravilhosas

 

I went to that game, can't recall much about it other than we lost 1-0 but think the crowd was around 10,000  

[wiseowl]

On 7/25/2016 at 9:46 AM, ghostofcecere said:

I took one on the chin that day, a load of Hibs Casuals walked down Sheepfoot Lane after the final whistle and started laying into everyone. Me and my mate where unfortunate enough to be one of the first out of the ground to catch the bus and got caught up in it!

Latics and Hibs "casuals" had actually formed quite a decent friendship during an Isle of Man pre-season tournament in the Royle era. However, when they came to BP for said pre-season friendly, it did kick off somewhat. To be fair, Hibs "got done" (you were obviously unlucky) by our lot and, thereafter, relations deteriorated. There was actually a mass brawl pre-arranged with Hibs when Latics played Everton away in the cup many years later (Latics and Everton were getting together to meet the Hibs casuals). It was prevented by police intercepting the Hibs' train headed south for Warrington. Football violence was serious stuff in those days!

[Stevie_J]

On 7/21/2016 at 5:21 PM, AlanGrovesFanClub said:

Yes, Dynamo Tbilisi on the plastic pitch with many of the wonderful players that took us to the Premier League. I enjoyed that one. I remember it as being 3-0, to us, but an online report says 1-0. Mind you, I am very old and tired and I do always remember things as being even better than they actually are / were - it's a gift really.

I was at that one - my memory is that we thrashed them 4-0.

[Worcester Owl]

1 hour ago, unsworth blue said:

 

I went to that game, can't recall much about it other than we lost 1-0 but think the crowd was around 10,000  

 

3 hours ago, Summerdeep said:

Re previous post about the match against SC Internacional from Brazil on 25 February 1975. I'd never heard of them at the time, and didn't realize what a great side they were. They actually won the Campeonato Brasileiro Serie A (ie their 'Premier League') in both 1975 and 1976.

 

In the side which played at Boundary Park were Valdomiro, who played in the 1974 World Cup, and a 21-year-old Paulo Roberto Falcão, who was one of Brazil's superstars  in the 1982 World Cup, alongside the likes of Socrates, Zico and Eder.

 

The Latics match was part of a 14 game European tour, of which they won 13 and drew 1. They scored fifty goals and conceded just one, though admittedly some of the opposition wasn't that great (it did include VFB Stuttgart and Newcastle Utd however).

 

Here's a couple of web pages that are quite interesting, though obviously they're in Portuguese:

 

https://legado.internacional.com.br/conteudo?modulo=2&setor=18&codigo=1411

 

https://terceirotempo.uol.com.br/noticias/achados-perdidos-a-invicta-excursao-do-inter-pela-europa-em-1975-com-fotos-maravilhosas

Mr Beckett has the attendance v Internacional as 9,495. I was also at the game, remember it being a freezing cold night! I think I've still got a programme somewhere, must dig it out. Interesting re Falcao, I didn't realise he played, obviously his name wouldn't have meant much then and by the time he was starring in the 1982 WC I wouldn't have made the connection!

[LaticsPete]

Some great memories here , thanks.

Last August I wrote a piece fof "Programme Monthly" , part of a series I've done on Latics' programmes, entitled "Over the sea to Oldham". It looked at four of our matches against international opposition . In tne magazine it was replete with photos of the programmes but here's the , longish, text. Hope it's of interest.

 

Over the Sea to Oldham

 

Often called “Ice Station Zebra”, Oldham’s Boundary Park ground is probably not on the “must play at” venues of most overseas clubs. So, the list of foreign visitors to this part of south Lancashire is not a long one and didn’t commence until after many other teams had played against international opposition. Ironically, Latics had been a pioneer in venturing abroad, with a series of matches in Vienna and Budapest in 1911 including a draw with Ferencvaros and victory over MTK.

The lack of floodlights at Boundary Park was a prime reason for not hosting touring sides but, in 1961, that was finally rectified. In November, just a month after the lights were officially switched on, OFK Belgrade were welcomed. That season saw OFK win the Yugoslav Cup, providing them a path to the semi final of the European Cup  Winners’ Cup the following year.  The regular pocket-sized Oldham programme, priced 6d, was issued, with the match date on the cover but no opposition listed. A “rousing welcome” was encouraged in the anonymous editorial, very brief pen pictures of the Belgrade team were provided (surnames only) with most having represented the country at “A” or” B” team level. Teams were shown in the 2-3-5 formation, Oldham playing in change colours of tangerine shirts with the visitors in blue and white stripes. The Match Ball had been given by “The Manchester Greyhound Bookmakers’ Protection Association”, which has a sinister ring to it. Oldham ran out 3-1 winners in front of a crowd of 10,230.

Five years later it was the turn of a Swiss side to visit. FC Thun , although part time, were top of the Swiss Second Division and supporters were urged to give them a “Thun-dering Big Welcome”. The programme in 1966/7 was a very distinct quarto sized 12-page affair, with a cover price of 1/- (5p) but which was given away free at the turnstiles. The Chairman (Ken Bates in his first venture into club ownership) hoped that more international matches would follow but repeated his disgust at recent away performances by his team. There are nearly two pages on the town of Thun, “the gateway to the Bernese Oberland” and the growing strength of Swiss football. A photo of the opposition team but no pen pictures other than a list of the other jobs that the players had. A stonemason, watchmaker (of course), precision mechanic, and bookbinder all lined up. No cotton spinners however, which was a shame as there were adverts from both the Elk Mill and Courtaulds with vacancies for those. It turned out to be an easy night for Latics, 9-2 winners before 5,577 spectators.

A step up in status with the next match played in 1971. Oldham fans can brag that they have an unbeaten record against Borussia Dortmund as a result of the 0-0 draw on Oct 5^th that year. Even way back then they were impressive opposition, winners of the Cup Winners’ Cup in 1966 and semi finalists in the European Cup. The programme editorial recognised that it was “a feather in the cap” to be recognised “worthy of meeting such high-class opposition”. A step down in the quality of the programme, however. The A5 16pp,has little written content and several pages of small local adverts: John Wood Chemist can supply all your patent medicines , Horsman Butchers suggest you get a meat pie or two from the snack bars, and the Grapes Hotel is a town centre pub with a country inn feel.  Teams are lined up 1-11 in a list wit brief notes by each player, home and away. Branco Rasovic lines up at no 4 for Dortmund, with ten caps for Yugoslavia, and Jurgen Schutz is the star player, many caps for West Germany and spells with Torino and Roma. Just under 7,000 spectators witnessed the draw.

Lastly, probably the biggest coup for Latics in terms of opposition, when on 25 February 1975, Internacional from Brazil arrived. In the year they won the Brazilian championship, they arrived at Boundary Park with seven of the Brazilian World Cup squad of the previous year. The programme is the standard “Boundary News” of the season, a cover proudly displaying the Div. Three Championship Trophy won the season before and action pictures spelling out he word “Latics”. Match details are clearly displayed, and the cover price is 10p. There is a feature on Brazilian football, another on Pele, and pictures of some of the Internacional stars including Paulo Cezar and Lula. Fixtures and appearances for the home club are well laid out, a pen picture of the referee, Ted Jolly, says he is an insurance agent and has two children. Lees Lager has a full-page advert on the back cover and job opportunities are this time available at Ferranti, the engineering company. The unbeaten run against foreign opposition came to and for Oldham with a crowd of 9.495 seeing the Brazilians chalk up a 1-0 victory.

[Summerdeep]

^  The unbeaten run had come to an end earlier, when Dutch side FC Groningen won 1-0 at Boundary Park in 1972. If you count Scottish teams as foreign opposition, then we lost 4-2 at home to Airdrie in a pre-season friendly in 1970. They were a decent side in those days, and had Drew Jarvie, who went on to play under Alex Ferguson at Aberdeen at centre forward.

 

Maybe someone should start a thread about Latics on tour abroad as well, though it might be difficult to find sources of information. I recall that they went on a tour of Spain after gaining promotion in 1971. There were two fixtures against Lloret de Mar, which we won 6-1 and 2-1. The second game turned into a minor bloodbath, with David Shaw being sent off and Jim Fryatt punching one of the Spanish players in the face. I think we also played Calella and won 2-0, but am not absolutely sure of that. For some reason or other we also had a game over there against Swansea City, which we lost 0-3.

[LaticsPete]

Thanks Summerdeep. The Groningen comment is spot on of course - it was clumsy writing by my. The reference was really to the programme sequence I was covering. 
I wouldn’t count Scots teams as foreign- although certainly would include Republic of Ireland and made a mention of the Festival of Britain matches ( v Cork and Bohemians) in the early thread. Still haven’t got my hands of either of those progs though! 
 

Piece about matches v Scots teams appearing shortly, and v Wales teams next month. Best wishes 

[Andyt84]

I remember the Perugia game as Marco Negri played for Perugia and then the following season signed for Rangers and scored loads for them. 

[Wee Bobby]

Who was the east European team we played in a pre season friendly in our "pinch me season". We won 4-0 and I seem to remember the opposistion played a euro final the previous year.

[BP1960]

2 hours ago, Wee Bobby said:

Who was the east European team we played in a pre season friendly in our "pinch me season". We won 4-0 and I seem to remember the opposistion played a euro final the previous year.

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Friendly-1990-1-Oldham-Athletic-v-Banik-Ostrava-Czechoslovakia-/153649254442

[Worcester Owl]

18 hours ago, LaticsPete said:

Some great memories here , thanks.

Last August I wrote a piece fof "Programme Monthly" , part of a series I've done on Latics' programmes, entitled "Over the sea to Oldham". It looked at four of our matches against international opposition . In tne magazine it was replete with photos of the programmes but here's the , longish, text. Hope it's of interest.

 

Over the Sea to Oldham

 

Often called “Ice Station Zebra”, Oldham’s Boundary Park ground is probably not on the “must play at” venues of most overseas clubs. So, the list of foreign visitors to this part of south Lancashire is not a long one and didn’t commence until after many other teams had played against international opposition. Ironically, Latics had been a pioneer in venturing abroad, with a series of matches in Vienna and Budapest in 1911 including a draw with Ferencvaros and victory over MTK.

The lack of floodlights at Boundary Park was a prime reason for not hosting touring sides but, in 1961, that was finally rectified. In November, just a month after the lights were officially switched on, OFK Belgrade were welcomed. That season saw OFK win the Yugoslav Cup, providing them a path to the semi final of the European Cup  Winners’ Cup the following year.  The regular pocket-sized Oldham programme, priced 6d, was issued, with the match date on the cover but no opposition listed. A “rousing welcome” was encouraged in the anonymous editorial, very brief pen pictures of the Belgrade team were provided (surnames only) with most having represented the country at “A” or” B” team level. Teams were shown in the 2-3-5 formation, Oldham playing in change colours of tangerine shirts with the visitors in blue and white stripes. The Match Ball had been given by “The Manchester Greyhound Bookmakers’ Protection Association”, which has a sinister ring to it. Oldham ran out 3-1 winners in front of a crowd of 10,230.

Five years later it was the turn of a Swiss side to visit. FC Thun , although part time, were top of the Swiss Second Division and supporters were urged to give them a “Thun-dering Big Welcome”. The programme in 1966/7 was a very distinct quarto sized 12-page affair, with a cover price of 1/- (5p) but which was given away free at the turnstiles. The Chairman (Ken Bates in his first venture into club ownership) hoped that more international matches would follow but repeated his disgust at recent away performances by his team. There are nearly two pages on the town of Thun, “the gateway to the Bernese Oberland” and the growing strength of Swiss football. A photo of the opposition team but no pen pictures other than a list of the other jobs that the players had. A stonemason, watchmaker (of course), precision mechanic, and bookbinder all lined up. No cotton spinners however, which was a shame as there were adverts from both the Elk Mill and Courtaulds with vacancies for those. It turned out to be an easy night for Latics, 9-2 winners before 5,577 spectators.

A step up in status with the next match played in 1971. Oldham fans can brag that they have an unbeaten record against Borussia Dortmund as a result of the 0-0 draw on Oct 5^th that year. Even way back then they were impressive opposition, winners of the Cup Winners’ Cup in 1966 and semi finalists in the European Cup. The programme editorial recognised that it was “a feather in the cap” to be recognised “worthy of meeting such high-class opposition”. A step down in the quality of the programme, however. The A5 16pp,has little written content and several pages of small local adverts: John Wood Chemist can supply all your patent medicines , Horsman Butchers suggest you get a meat pie or two from the snack bars, and the Grapes Hotel is a town centre pub with a country inn feel.  Teams are lined up 1-11 in a list wit brief notes by each player, home and away. Branco Rasovic lines up at no 4 for Dortmund, with ten caps for Yugoslavia, and Jurgen Schutz is the star player, many caps for West Germany and spells with Torino and Roma. Just under 7,000 spectators witnessed the draw.

Lastly, probably the biggest coup for Latics in terms of opposition, when on 25 February 1975, Internacional from Brazil arrived. In the year they won the Brazilian championship, they arrived at Boundary Park with seven of the Brazilian World Cup squad of the previous year. The programme is the standard “Boundary News” of the season, a cover proudly displaying the Div. Three Championship Trophy won the season before and action pictures spelling out he word “Latics”. Match details are clearly displayed, and the cover price is 10p. There is a feature on Brazilian football, another on Pele, and pictures of some of the Internacional stars including Paulo Cezar and Lula. Fixtures and appearances for the home club are well laid out, a pen picture of the referee, Ted Jolly, says he is an insurance agent and has two children. Lees Lager has a full-page advert on the back cover and job opportunities are this time available at Ferranti, the engineering company. The unbeaten run against foreign opposition came to and for Oldham with a crowd of 9.495 seeing the Brazilians chalk up a 1-0 victory.

Great post, thanks LP.

 

Interesting about the tangerine shirts in 1961 v Belgrade, I'd always thought they were a Ken Bates innovation. I've still got some of those quarto sized programmes you mention, I think he did bring those in. It's funny to think that he was yet another owner who Latics fans used to moan about, especially when he was off sunning himself in the Virgin Islands while the club was going from bad to worse. His time here almost seems like a golden era compared to the current clowns! 

[BP1960]

3 minutes ago, Worcester Owl said:

Great post, thanks LP.

 

Interesting about the tangerine shirts in 1961 v Belgrade, I'd always thought they were a Ken Bates innovation. I've still got some of those quarto sized programmes you mention, I think he did bring those in. It's funny to think that he was yet another owner who Latics fans used to moan about, especially when he was off sunning himself in the Virgin Islands while the club was going from bad to worse. His time here almost seems like a golden era compared to the current clowns! 

 

Electric orange is how the shirts were described at the time, looked great as they shimmered under floodlights.

 

[LaticsPete]

1 hour ago, Worcester Owl said:

Great post, thanks LP.

 

Interesting about the tangerine shirts in 1961 v Belgrade, I'd always thought they were a Ken Bates innovation. I've still got some of those quarto sized programmes you mention, I think he did bring those in. It's funny to think that he was yet another owner who Latics fans used to moan about, especially when he was off sunning himself in the Virgin Islands while the club was going from bad to worse. His time here almost seems like a golden era compared to the current clowns! 

The tangerine were change colours from that time -and we sometimes used them for floodlit matches e.g. the replay against Bristol Rovers in the FA Cup in 61/2. 
The OFK match was probably also influenced by the unlikelihood of them travelling with two strips in those days!

[BP1960]

2 hours ago, LaticsPete said:

The tangerine were change colours from that time -and we sometimes used them for floodlit matches e.g. the replay against Bristol Rovers in the FA Cup in 61/2. 
The OFK match was probably also influenced by the unlikelihood of them travelling with two strips in those days!

 

And that FA cup tie was one of the most atmospheric I've been to 

[Dave_Og]

3 hours ago, LaticsPete said:

The tangerine were change colours from that time -and we sometimes used them for floodlit matches e.g. the replay against Bristol Rovers in the FA Cup in 61/2. 
 

Never knew that, always thought they were introduced by Bates.