Surprised to see Shane Rufer in that 1979 NZ team: I assumed he was capped after Wynton, and in the mid 80s. He must have been very young in 1979. Over to you Big Pete...
Hilarious to see " Trans Tours United " as a club name; definitely a blast from the past!
It certainly took Shane a long time to earn his 8 full caps (2 goals); 19 total AW's apps.
From 1979 - 1985 for his full caps.
http://www.ultimatenzsoccer.com/NZRepSoccer/caps_a...
Shane made an impressive start to his All Whites career in 1979 before fading from contention until after the 1982 World Cup.
His first full cap (England B doesn't count of course) was actually before this England B game in October 1979:
http://www.ultimatenzsoccer.com/NZRepSoccer/id1562...
(scroll down)
It came on 29/6/79 in a 6-0 rout of Fiji when he started and scored on debut aged 19.
Shane Rufer retained his starting place for the next game vs. Fiji on 1/7/79 when he scored again.
He came off the bench in the following international, a 2-0 win vs. New Caledonia on 26/7/79.
Shane started against Bahrain in the first of a two match series on 3/10/79 and came off the bench in the second match on 8/10/79
Shane had to wait six years until 21/9/85 in a World Cup qualifier vs. Australia for his next cap:
http://www.ultimatenzsoccer.com/NZRepSoccer/id1563...
Shane made three appearances in 1985 in World Cup qualifiers, his last full appearances for NZ.
His career took off after signing for FC Zurich along with Wynton in 1982 where he made 75 appearances in two spells, with periods at other Swiss clubs, finally with major club Servette in the 1990-91 season (17 apps).
Because clubs were not compelled to release players in those days for internationals, like Wynton he made few All Whites appearances despite playing at a very good club level. He was released by FC Zurich for only the biggest World Cup qualifiers in 1985 vs. Australia and Israel. He wasn't selected in 1989 for the qualifiers.
1979 was one of the most successful years in All Whites history with six wins from six A internationals, including a 1-0 win against Australia on 13/6/79.
1979 - 1987 also was a period of complete NZ dominance over Australia. Nine years that Australia would rather forget !
vs. Australia: Played: nine Won: five Drew: three Lost: one
This is in all A internationals 1979 - 1987 including World Cup qualifiers, friendlies, Trans-Tasman Cup.
Johan Verweij from Christchurch United also played in most All Whites games that in successful year, debuting against Australia in the win on 13/6/79 and playing in four of the six games in 1979, scoring his first international goal vs. Bahrain on 3/10/79
Like Shane Rufer he was to miss out on the 1982 All Whites but gain selection afterwards.
Verweij went on to gain five full caps (one goal) and nineteen total NZ appearances, the last one in 1983.
Both players fell out of favour with John Adshead.
Interestingly, Shane's more famous brother Wynton actually made his All Whites debut in an A international on 16/10/80 not during the All Whites run to the 1982 World Cup as we previously all thought.
http://www.ultimatenzsoccer.com/NZRepSoccer/id1563...
Wynton appeared in four of NZ's seven games at the 1980 Merdeka Tournament in Malaysia (an annual international friendly tournament which was one of Asia's biggest).
NZ finished fifth of eight sides after thrashing Kuwait, beating South Korea, drawing with Burma and Thailand and losing to Malaysia and Morrocco. Pretty good results for a young B team facing full international sides:
http://www.rsssf.com/tablesm/merdeka80.html
Originally these games weren't classed as A internationals but have subsequently been upgraded.
NZ entered a "B" team of promising young players, whereas the tournament rules stated all teams were considered A sides.
A 17 year-old Ceri Evans also made his debut at this tournament six days after his seventeenth birthday and started all seven games.
Previously, before this tournament was upgraded, Ceri's A international debut was considered to be at the 1983 Olympic qualifying tournament in Singapore (Olympic football sides were senior sides then and the matches A internationals).