1967 - Japan v Middlesex Wanderers

Japan v Middlesex Wanderers - 1967

Middlesex Wanderers FC was founded in 1905 as a touring team, with the objective of promoting 'good fellowship among the football and other sporting organisations throughout the world'. The team is selected from semi-professional footballers around the UK by a committee and acts as an ambassador for the UK. In 1967 the Wanderers embarked on a tour of the Far East, beginning in Japan with three games. In the first game in the Tokyo National Stadium on 25 May Middlesex Wanderers defeated the Japanese National Team 3-1 in front of 46,000 supporters. In the second game on 27 May in the Komazawa stadium Japan gained revenge with a 2-1 victory. In the final game on 30 May, Middlesex Wanderers defeated Japan 2-1 with all the goals coming in the second half.

The official programme, which covers all three games is 227 mm tall x 193 mm wide and has 16 pages and is all in Japanese. The programme has a one-page introduction from the Japanese FA followed by a 4-page article on Middlesex Wanderers and details of the fixtures. includes details of the Japan and Middlesex Wanderers squads together with small pen-picture photos of each of the players. The programme then has a couple of pages to enter the scores of the games and team line-ups etc.

The two tickets shown below managed to mis-spell Wanderers and also show the wrong month - April instead of May! The pin badge/medal I have in my collection for this game is really rare and interesting and I suspect might possibly have been given to one of the players or officials?

Programme

Pin Badge/Medal