1970 Japan v Southampton

Japan v Southampton - 1970

In 1970 Southampton toured Japan, playing four matches against the Japan National Team. The first game on 28 May in the Tokyo National Stadium was won comfortably 3-1 by Southampton. However on 2 June, again in the Tokyo National Stadium, Japan managed to hold Southampton to a 3-3 draw. In the third match in Kobe on 4 June, Southampton narrowly defeated Japan 2-1. The final match was played in Fukuoka on 7 June where Southampton had a more comfortable 2-0 victory.

Two official programmes were produced for the Southampton games in Japan in 1970.

The first programme, which covered all four games has 12 x B5 pages (including 3 pages of adverts) and is all in Japanese. After the introductions, the programme includes an article on Southampton FC and full details of the Southampton squad including small pen-picture photos of each of the players and officials. Details are given of the Japan squad including small player photos and finally there is a page to enter scores/line-ups etc.

The second programme below was only sold at the third game in Kobe and is particularly rare.

The pin medal I have in my collection for this game is also very rare and interesting and I suspect might possibly have been given to one of the players or officials?

Medal