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Slightly Obscure Friendlies


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Following on from Manchester a couple of weeks ago got me thinking. I am 44 and in my life time I can recall the Buddies playing friendlies in places as diverse as Africa, The Caribbean, Finland, Brazil, Singapore, Isle of Man, Western Isles. Does anyone have info on the African games, like what countries were they in? Also where exactly was the game in The Western Isles, mid 80's as I remember Chalmers scored.

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Round about 1975 , 1976.

At West Bay ( Public , means free entry ) Park

Millport 0 St Mirren 6

I was there ........... ( only because I was on my holidays )

WHIT A TEAM !!!! thumbup2.gif

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Round about 1975 , 1976.

At West Bay ( Public , means free entry ) Park

Millport 0 St Mirren 6

I was there ........... ( only because I was on my holidays )

WHIT A TEAM !!!! thumbup2.gif

Played Millport in the days after the 1987 cup win too... I was there, because we'd just moved there.

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I can recall a brilliant friendly against Arsenal in the early 80s, I think we'd both been put out our respective cup contests and there was a free Saturday in the schedule.

The other friendly of the more obscure variety, I can recall, was against Tampa Bay Rowdies, I think Saints pumped them

Edited by Bloomsbury Bud
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I remember a friendly at Love Street in the Bone years against a South Korean team. I think they were called Hyudai something. It was a Friday night and the game was awful. I remember Jim Gardner laughing at one of their players mis-controlling the ball and it going out for a throw. Jim was (yet again) made to look like a totally fanny when the ball was thrown to him and he kicked it straight out again fro another throw!!!!

Edited by stormtrooper
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I can recall a brilliant friendly against Arsenal in the early 80s, I think we'd both been put out our respective cup contests and there was a free Saturday in the schedule.

The other friendly of the more obscure variety, I can recall, was against Tampa Bay Rowdies, I think Saints pumped them

Provan Jewellers Cup!

February 1981. Lost 3-2. Decent game.

If memory serves me right we had to get special permission to play it on a Sunday rather than the accepted Saturday....how thing have changed. Now we need permission to play some games at 3pm on a Saturday!!

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I remember a friendly at Love Street in the Bone years against a South Korean team. I think they were called Hyudai something. It was a Friday night and the game was awful. I remember Jim Gardner laughing at one of their players mis-controlling the ball and it going out for a throw. Jim was (yet again) made to look like a totally fanny when the ball was thrown to him and he kicked it straight out again fro another throw!!!!

Hyundai Tigers, though they may have had some other corporate/place type name after the Hyundai.

As you say, dreadful game ended 0-0. And both teams were lucky to get 0!

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Did we not play in Zimbabwe when Jimmy Bone was manager and have some players lined up who were tragically killed in a plane crash. I may be mixing two events up here!?!

At the start of 86/7 we went to Nigeria and played a couple of games, ACB Nigeria(1-2) and Leventis(0-0).

The players we had lined up were in the early 90's when Jimmy Bone was back as manager. He had spent some time in Zambia and was trying to bring a few Zambian internationals over. Names I can remember are John Soko and Wisdom Chancer.

Sadly the plane carrying the Zambian national team to a match crashed and all on board were killed.

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Round about 1975 , 1976.

At West Bay ( Public , means free entry ) Park

Millport 0 St Mirren 6

I was there ........... ( only because I was on my holidays )

WHIT A TEAM !!!! thumbup2.gif

That was the year of the bibs when Alex Smith and Jimmy Bone brought the Scottish Cup with them.

And yes we got value for money that day.

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Following on from Manchester a couple of weeks ago got me thinking. I am 44 and in my life time I can recall the Buddies playing friendlies in places as diverse as Africa, The Caribbean, Finland, Brazil, Singapore, Isle of Man, Western Isles. Does anyone have info on the African games, like what countries were they in? Also where exactly was the game in The Western Isles, mid 80's as I remember Chalmers scored.

I remember seeing them play a Uist Select on the island of Benbecula in July or August 1987. Got my program signed by pretty much the whole 87 team, it was amazing at the time, and still have the program B)
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In the early 80s we had a pre-season trip to Brazil, did we not!? Unthinkable nowadays! The statisticians will I'm sure come on with the details, but I'm sure we played Santos and a couple of other teams.

And if you really want the strangest of friendlies, surely being asked to play Notts County to open Barcelona's new stadium in the 1920s is pretty surreal when you consider the relative standings of the 3 clubs now. (note - this wasn't the Nou Camp, it was their previous stadium) And as has been mentioned in the past, we reckon we were the first ever British team to win a trophy in Europe by beating County :-)

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In 1980 the club produced a plaque commemorating the tour of Brazil along with the friendly matches against Tampa Bay Roadies, arsenal and a three match tour of Finland.

It also highlighted our first two European matches against Elfsborg and St Etienne.

I still have one at home. Need to get a pic and post it.

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Aye it was Uist I was looking for, also remember we were almost in Kuwait in 1987/8 too on a free weekend but that fell through.

I had a programme think it was Kilkenny v Buds with Tony Fitz on the cover, from the days when we used to go to The Republic of Ireland too.

The most north I have ever seen the Buds was Balintore. And in one NIrish tour Ballinamalard, Derry City, Lurgan and Newtonards.

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In 1980 the club produced a plaque commemorating the tour of Brazil along with the friendly matches against Tampa Bay Roadies, arsenal and a three match tour of Finland.

It also highlighted our first two European matches against Elfsborg and St Etienne.

I still have one at home. Need to get a pic and post it.

fe18-004.jpg

Edited by SBS
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