Scottish club match may put city on soccer map

Spectator support for big soccer matches in Hamilton goes on trial when Scottish premier league club Dunfermline Athletic play an All Stars XI at Waikato Stadium next Wednesday night (July 3).

The city has not hosted a soccer event of similar magnitude since the All Whites played a Kevin Keegan Invitation XI before about 4000 at Porritt Stadium in 1985, and among the most interested observers will be New Zealand Soccer bosses.

Since 1999 Waikato fans have even fallen out of the habit of paying at the gate for any soccer matches, with the province no longer represented in the national league.

But if the Dunfermline fixture draws a reasonable four-figure crowd it could put Hamilton on the map for major international fixtures.

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