50 years of Spurs Down Under - a brief history
We first touched down in Australia over 50 years ago - we're now counting the hours to our 15th match Down Under as we take on Sydney FC at the Allianz Stadium on Wednesday evening, local time (10.45am UK).
It all started in May, 1976 when we played five matches as part of a mammoth post-season tour of Canada, Fiji and Australasia. The first game was against Victoria in Melbourne and since, we've played in Newcastle (NSW), Sydney, Adelaide and Perth.
Here's the history of Spurs in Australia...
1976
We played five matches on our first tour Down Under - and won all five. Martin Chivers top scored with five goals, including a hat-trick against Western Australia ad we racked up 20 goals in those five matches.
9 May | Spurs 3-1 Victoria (Pratt, Perryman, Jones)
Melbourne - 15,000
Spurs: Daines (Kendall), Osgood, Naylor (Stead), Pratt (Hoddle), Young, Walford, Neighbour, Perryman, Jones, Armstrong (Duncan), Coates.
12 May | Spurs 5-1 Northern New South Wales (Young, Hoddle, Chivers, Osgood, OG)
Newcastle - 7,000
Spurs: Kendall, Naylor (Neill), Stead, Pratt (Neighbour), Young, Walford, Hoddle, Perryman (Armstrong), Jones, Chivers, Osgood.
16 May | Spurs 3-2 Australian National XI (Neighbour, Jones, Coates)
Sydney - 26,561
Spurs: Daines, Naylor, Stead, Pratt, Young, Osgood, Neighbour, Perryman, Chivers, Jones, Coates.
17 May | Spurs 5-2 Southern Australia (Osgood 2, Jones, Chivers, Coates)
Adelaide - 15,200
Spurs: Kendall, Naylor (Armstrong), Stead, Pratt, Young, Walford, Neighbour, Osgood, Jones, Chivers, Coates.
23 May | Spurs 4-0 Western Australia (Chivers 3, Jones)
Perth - 18,000
Spurs: Daines (Kendall), Naylor, Stead (Armstrong), Pratt (Hoddle), Young, Osgood (Walford), Neighbour, Perryman, Chivers, Jones, Coates.
1985
Our second tour of Australia, this time competing in the International Soccer Tournament against the Australian national team, Udinese of Italy and Brazilian side Vasco da Gama.
29 May | Spurs 0-1 Australia Soccer Federation
Melbourne - 20,503
Spurs: Clemence, Thomas, Bowen, Roberts, Miller, (Culverhouse), Mabbutt, Ardiles, Falco, Leworthy, Hazard (Crook), Dick.
1 June | Spurs 0-2 Udinese
Sydney
Spurs: Clemence, Thomas (Culverhouse), Bowen, Roberts, Miller, Mabbutt, Ardiles, Falco, Crook (Leworthy), Hazard, Dick.
5 June | Spurs 1-1 Vasco da Gama (Falco)
Adelaide
Spurs: Clemence, Thomas, Hughton, Roberts, Miller (Culverhouse), Mabbutt, Ardiles, Falco, Dick, Hazard (Leworthy), Galvin (Crook).
9 Jun | Spurs 4-1 Udinese (Miller, Falco, Leworthy, OG)
3rd/4th play-off - Melbourne
Spurs: Clemence, Thomas, Hughton, Roberts, Miller, Mabbutt, Ardiles (Crook), Falco, Leworthy, Chiedozie (Hazard), Galvin (Dick).
2015
After a gap of 30 years, we were back in Australia as part of a post-season tour of Malaysia and Australia in May, 2015. Having beaten a Malaysia XI side in Kuala Lumpur, we played Sydney FC for the AIA Cup in the iconic ANZ Stadium, host of the Sydney Olympics. Harry Kane scored the only goal of the game as over 70,000 fans packed out the stadium. Our 2015 tour proved a big hit on and off the pitch and was later awarded 'Best Event' at the ‘Australia’s Favourite Event’ Awards.
30 May | Spurs 1-0 Sydney FC (Kane)
Sydney - 71,549
Spurs: Lloris (Vorm), Yedlin, Bentaleb, Dembele (Walker-Peters), Vertonghen (Dier), Stambouli, Townsend (Ward), Mason (Winks), Kane (Onomah), Eriksen (Chadli), Lamela (Carroll).
2016
Having waited 30 years, we were back in Australia for the second time in just over a year for a pre-season tour in 2016. We played two high-profile matches against Juventus and Atletico Madrid in the International Champions Cup at the iconic MCG, our young squad performing well ahead of a 2016/17 season to remember, the last at the Lane, where we remained unbeaten on our way to finishing runners-up in the Premier League.
26 July | Spurs 1-2 Juventus (Lamela)
Melbourne - 31,447
Spurs: Vorm, Trippier (Walkes), Miller (Yedlin), Wanyama, Ball (Amos), Carter-Vickers, Son (Lamela), Mason (Winks), Janssen (Harrison), Carroll (Edwards), Chadli (Onomah).
29 July | Spurs 0-1 Atletico Madrid
Melbourne - 42,107
Spurs: Vorm (McGee), Trippier (Walker-Peters), Yedlin (Miller), Wanyama (Mason), Walkes, Carter-Vickers, Onomah (Chadli), Winks (Ball), Janssen (Edwards), Eriksen (Carroll), Lamela (Son).
2023
Now led by Australian coach Ange Postecoglou, we headed to Perth for Ange's first pre-season, ahead of 2023/24. His first game in charge gave an indication of what was to come in terms of his front-foot football as we racked up 30-plus efforts at goal against West Ham in the Optus Stadium. That was the first stop of a tour that also took in Thailand and Singapore.
18 July | Spurs 2-3 West Ham (Lo Celso, Udogie)
Perth - 46,266
Spurs: First half: Vicario, Pedro Porro, Romero, Tanganga, Reguilon, Skipp, Bissouma, Maddison, Solomon, Kane (c), Kulusevski.
Second half: Austin, Emerson, Davies, Sanchez, Udogie, Sarr, Hojbjerg, Lo Celso, Devine, Richarlison, Perisic. Substitutes (not used): Whiteman, White.
2024
Having finished fifth in Ange's first season, we were back in Melbourne in May, 2024 for a post-season match against Newcastle United - a penalty shoot-out loss at the MCG.
22 May | Spurs 1-1 Newcastle (Maddison)
Melbourne - 78,419
Spurs: Austin (Whiteman 78), Pedro Porro (Abbott 46 (Black 88)), Dragusin (Hall 71), van de Ven (Phillips 46), Royal (Kyerematen 88), Bentancur (Skipp 46), Sarr (Donley 61), Maddison (Devine 46), Johnson (Santiago 69), Kulusevski (Scarlett 69), Son (c) (Bryan 61). Substitute (not used): Vicario.