In 1958, a team comprising of South Africans went on a tour of Britain and Ireland. It started in the summer with a 2-2 draw against Headington United. Victories against Bedford Town, a Norfolk County FA XI and a British Universities XI followed and then came their biggest test – reigning champions Wolves. The Springboks narrowly lost 1-0 to Wolves. They then beat a Wales Amateur XI before preparing themselves to face Everton at Goodison Park.

In September 1958, it was announced that Everton would play against the South African tourists under the floodlights at Goodison Park. The match took place on October 8th – and this wasn’t the first occasion South African tourists played at Goodison Park. In December 1924, Everton played against a South Africa XI at Goodison, losing 3-2. Jimmy Broad and Alec Wall scored for the Blues. The player who scored two of the South African tourists’ goals was David Murray, who subsequently joined Everton the following summer and became the first overseas player to play (and score) for the club when he made his debut against Cardiff in September 1925.

Teams

There are three names worthy of note. Gilbert Petersen, the tour captain, was nearly signed by Everton in 1955 when he was 18 but he decided to stay in South Africa. Everton then tried to sign compatriot and tour-mate Charlie Hurly the following year but he declined, saying he didn’t want to move to England. The remaining name is Andy Penman – said to be Everton’s youngest ever player. The Scotsman made his debut for the Blues exactly a week earlier in Everton’s Floodlight Challenge Cup meeting against Liverpool, aged 15 years and 223 days. He also nearly scored in that game, with the Liverpool Daily Post saying he “delivered a magnificent shot that was speeding away from [Tommy] Younger to a place in the net, when the international goalkeeper flung himself sideways for a save which did full justice to the shot.”

Bobby Collins broke the deadlock after just 3 minutes and then Dave Hickson doubled the lead after Trevor Gething saved Collins’ shot only for the ball to neatly fall to Hickson. Eddie O’Hara made it 3-0, heading the ball past Gething after meeting a Jimmy Harris pass. TE Jones then made it 4-0, converting a penalty after O’Hara was fouled by George Martin. During the first half, Everton were briefly down to 10 men after goalkeeper Jimmy O’Neill had a recurrence of a knee injury he suffered in a preseason tour of Ireland. For a few minutes, Brian Harris took his place between the sticks and had little to do, so he “played up to the crowd by wandering yards out of his goal with the spectators waving him back,” and whenever he did get the ball, his clearances fell to the feet of the South Africans. Albert Dunlop was then brought on shortly before half-time and the match was 11-a-side again. It looked like it was going to be a cruising victory for Everton as they were 4-0 at half-time. But that wasn’t the case.

Near the hour mark, the South Africans reduced the deficit to three goals after Les Salton eased past TE Jones to pick up on Charlie Hurly’s through ball and slotted the ball past Albert Dunlop. But the hopes of a comeback for them faded after Dave Hickson set up Jimmy Harris to regain the 4-goal lead and then go one better around 10 minutes before full-time with Harris returning the favour for Hickson to score his second of the game. But a few minutes after it was 6-1, the South Africans incredibly made it 6-4. Gilbert Petersen converted a penalty after John Bramwell handled in the area, Malcolm Rufus picked up on a pass by Wally Warren with a move, according to the Liverpool Echo, that was akin to Stanley Matthews and hit the back of the net, and Les Salton scored his second of the game from a corner. There was a possibility for the Springboks to make it 6-5 and make the last couple of minutes of the game extremely interesting but it wasn’t to be after Dave Hickson completed his hat-trick. Full-time score: Everton 7-4 South Africa XI.

It was a very creditable performance from the Springboks, with George Barratt, Charlie Hurly and Les Salton receiving some praise from Liverpool Echo journalist Leslie Edwards. But the one player who got the biggest praise was Malcolm Rufus, whom Edwards said was “the best non-stop left-back [he’s] seen since Joe Mercer.”

An admirable performance also from Everton. The only criticism would be the defence’s brief collapse in the latter stages of the game. One would think the defence would have learned from their mistakes ahead of their next game three days later. But it appears that they didn’t as Everton got thrashed 10-4 by Tottenham.