May 31, 1935
The Liverpool football team, homeward bound after their delightful Las Palmas tour, were on board the liner Accra, which called at Plymouth early this morning. They did not disembark, but continued the trip by sea to Liverpool, which will be reached to-morrow morning.
Mr. George Patterson, the manager, was interviewed in bed by an Echo representative who boarded the liner at Plymouth, and he gave some vivid and interesting impressions of the tour.
Mr. Patterson said the football in the three games, all of which were played on the same ground at Las Palmas, was quite good, but the Liverpool players were greatly handicapped by the condition of the ground.
Like a hard court
“We had quite a shock,” he said, “when we first saw it, for there was not a blade of grass on it, and the surface resembled a hard tennis court, being covered with grit and stones.
“They tried to do all they could to meet our suggestions, and after brushing off the stones they put down a layer of sand, which made the surface a little better. Even so, however, the smaller ball with which they played bounced terribly, and needed a lot of controlling.
“The three teams we met played very good football, typical of the Austrians, and found each other remarkably well, but they had the fault of many Continental teams of trying to walk the ball into the net. We beat Marino by five goals to three, and Tenerife by four goals to two, and the other match with the Victoria club was drawn – two goals each – though virtually we won, for Alf Hanson scored a goal which was disallowed for heavens knows why.”
The players had found the heat very trying, for it was ninety degrees in the shade at nine-o’clock in the morning, and several of them were suffering from bruised arms and knees through falling on the rough surface.
“One or two of them,” said Mr. Patterson, “have no skin on their knees at all, and Hanson has had to be medically treated on board the liner for a septic elbow.
“Generally speaking,” said Mr. Patterson, “the tour has been a wonderful success, and has been marred only by troubles over the referees.”
Hanson’s wonderful goal
Mr. William McConnell, acting chairman for the tour, said: “Liverpool are very pleased to think that they have returned with their record intact, having never been beaten by any foreign team.
“We had a narrow squeak in our match with Victoria Club, owing to poor refereeing, but we drew in spite of it, the referee disallowing a wonderful goal by Hanson, our outside left. After the goalkeeper had punched the ball out he banged it into the net, and why it was disallowed was inexplicable.”
Substitute
With regard to substitution, Mr. McConnell said that when they played against Marino Club they were opposed by sixteen players, and at one time their opponents had twelve men on the field. In the second game of the tour their opponents played two goalkeepers, one in each half.
“The chairman of the Tenerife Club at first agreed that there should be no substitutions except in case of injury. At half-time, when they were losing, he said he was going to please himself about substitutes, but did not do it, however.
“El Platino”
“Tommy Cooper, right full back, was a great favourite with the natives, who nicknamed him ‘El Platino,’ on account of his fair hair. Tom Bradshaw, centre half, and Berry Nieuwenhuys, outside right, were also very popular with the crowd.
“At the second match we were introduced to Miss Spain, beauty queen, native of the Canary Islands, who will take part in the international beauty contest at Torquay next month. She kicked off.
Alicia Navarro, Miss Spain 1935.
“We had an offer from the Madeira Club to play a match when homeward bound, but unfortunately the boat did not stop at Madeira long enough.”
Mr. McConnell said that Canaries teams would always tax First Division sides owing to the conditions in which matches were played, but he was convinced they would not stand against Third Division clubs.
(Source: Liverpool Echo: May 31, 1935)
"Play Up, Liverpool" 