Around the world in a lot less than 80 days!
By Roger Wash
Early in the New Year of the 1976-77 season the Town
embarked on a remarkable record which saw them go on a run of eleven wins and a
draw from twelve games which saw them shoot up the Division Two (now Championship)
table. But for a late season collapse, promotion
back to the top flight would have been achieved but as it was they fell four
points short.
At this point the club had received an offer from Universal
Guarantee Insurance Company to take part in a fully sponsored tour. Feeling that the players needed a reward for
their efforts and a break the offer was accepted.
As soon as the season ended a squad of players set off from
Heathrow to Los Angeles where after a three hour stop-off for sightseeing a
flight connection to St Louis was made. The local NASL side St Louis Stars were their first opponents and in
front of a crowd of 7156 (another 4800 tickets were bought by Coca-Cola to make
it seem like a ‘full house’ but were not used) at Francis Field the Hatters
were 3-0 up after 40 minutes through goals from Jimmy Husband, Ricky Hill and
an own goal from Star’s Steve Buckley (confusing as both sides fielded a Steve
Buckley!).
The travelling caught up with the Town in the second period
with the players hanging on a little in the end but a 3-2 scoreline recorded a
first win.
Above: St Louis Stars vs Luton Town programme cover
Next stop was Auckland, New Zealand where from 85 degrees
fahrenheit in St Louis they were greeted by torrential rain and freezing
temperatures. The Town were due to play
the New Zealand World Cup squad at Auckland’s Newmarket Park but the decision
to put 30 tons of sand right down the centre of the pitch backfired as it soon
turned into a sea of mud.
There was no alternative but to postpone the game and after
bulldozers were brought in to remove the sand (mud) the game was played 24
hours later on a bog. According to the local press it resembled Muriwai Beach
on the opening day of the toheroa season – UK translation Southend with the
tide out.
The Town took a 2-1 lead, courtesy of goals from Paul Price and John Faulkner into the interval but again tired in the second period with the home side netting twice to secure a 3-2 victory which was to turn out to be only defeat on the tour.
Above: Peter Mead, Ricky Hill, David Carr and Harry Haslam have a look at the muddy Auckland pitch.
The following day the two sides faced each other again, this
time in wet and windy Wellington. The
home side took a 2-0 first half lead but the Hatters fought back in the second
period to win the game with goals from Gary Heale, Lil Fuccillo and David Carr.
Continuing their travels across New Zealand the Hatters
rolled up in sheep country and took on Otago in Dunedin. This time the Town strolled to a 3-1 victory
with Husband, Fuccillo and Carr scoring but there was no time to rest as they
moved on to Christchurch to play Canterbury where on a cold, foggy evening
under poor floodlights the score was repeated with Fuccillo netting twice to add to a strike by
Husband.
From the cold and wet of New Zealand it was back to high
temperatures when the party arrived at New Caledonia where the Town were due to
play their World Cup side twice. The
hosts bent over backwards to be helpful but their generosity was stretched
when, after being invited to lunch at a hotel in the middle of nowhere the
players discovered a beach and some oyster beds. John Faulkner led the players in an oyster
feast before discovering that the molluscs were meant for the hotel owners rich
customers.
The standard of football was not very high with the Hatters
winning both games 3-2 and 1-0, Carr scoring the only goal in the second game
while Brian Chambers, with two, and an oyster filled Faulkner netted in the
first.
For the final leg of the tour the Town party set off for
Fiji. The weather was hot and extremely
humid and after a sightseeing trip in a windowless coach the base hotel was
reached. At night frogs came out in
their hundreds with several, some eight inches high, having to be removed from
bedrooms before the players could move in.
The game against a Fiji National XI was to be played on the
other side of the island which necessitated another plane trip. The pitch at Buckhurst Park had been marked
out in creosote with no penalty spots, no half circles on the edge of the area
and no corner markings. The dressing
rooms had no glass in the windows, no electricity and no lock on the door.
The game was very one-sided, against a team who had recently beaten Australia, with the Town running out 3-0 winners with goals from Fuccillo, Heale and Husband. At the end of the game, manager Harry Haslam was asked to do a radio broadcast from a box high up in two coconut trees tied together, reached by a rope ladder. Harry, of course, agreed with some difficulty.
Above: A Fijian attacker is watched by Graham Jones and Milija Aleksic.
From Fiji it was a 31 hour trip back to Heathrow where after
a tour of 33000 miles the party was probably glad of a little rest before
starting pre-season training!