1966 Japan v Stirling Albion

Japan v Stirling Albion - 1966

In 1966 Stirling Albion became the first British professional club to play in Japan. The story goes that the Japanese initially invited Sheffield Wednesday but they had to pull out. The Japanese then decided to invite another British professional club beginning with the letter S, and Stirling Albion were the lucky club selected. In the first game on June 24 in the Tokyo National Stadium Stirling Albion defeated a Japanese Selection 3-1. In the second game in the Komazawa Stadium on June 26 Stirling defeated the Japan National Team 4-2.

The official programme, which covers both games measures  244 mm wide x 258 mm tall and has 16 pages, five of which are adverts. The programme is all in Japanese. After the introductions, the programme has a two-page article on Stirling Albion and includes details of the Stirling Albion squad together with two small pen-picture photos of John McGuinness and Leslie Thomson. Details are give of the Japan National Team squad with small photos of each of their players. There follows a 2-page article on the rules of football before the programme finishes with a couple of pages allowing the scores and line-ups to be entered.

Programme