The FA Tour of Australia, 1925

At the end of the 1924-25 season the Football Association sent a touring party to Australia under the leadership of Mr John Lewis, by now something of a Grand Old Man of the game.
Billed in the local press, of course, as 'England' the tourists enjoyed a 100% success record and averaged 5.5 goals per game. There were 4 'Test Matches' against Australia (these were not recognised as full internationals).

07.05.25	Perth Metropolitan XI	0	8	FA XI	Perth
09.05.25	Western Australia	0	7	FA XI	Fremantle
14.05.25	South Australia	0	10	FA XI	Adelaide
16.05.25	Australia XI	1	4	FA XI	Thebarton
20.05.25	Victoria	0	7	FA XI	Melbourne
23.05.25	Australia XI	0	5	FA XI	Melbourne
30.05.25	New South Wales	2	3	FA XI	Sydney
03.06.25	Sydney Metropolis	1	3	FA XI	Sydney
06.06.25	Illawarra District	0	8	FA XI	Wollongong
08.06.25	New South Wales	1	4	FA XI	Sydney
13.06.25	Northern Districts	0	6	FA XI	Newcastle
17.06.25	Ipswich and District	0	3	FA XI	Ipswich
20.06.25	Queensland	0	11	FA XI	Brisbane
24.06.25	North Queensland	0	9	FA XI	Bundaberg
27.06.25	Australia	1	5	FA XI	Brisbane
29.06.25	Toowoomba	0	6	FA XI	Toowoomba
04.07.25	Australia	1	2	FA XI	Sydney
08.07.25	Newcastle	0	3	FA XI	Newcastle
11.07.25	Australia	2	8	FA XI	Maitland
15.07.25	South Maitland	1	4	FA XI	Cessnock
18.07.25	Australia	0	5	FA XI	Sydney
21.07.25	Granville District	1	6	FA XI	Parramatta
25.07.25	Australia	0	2	FA XI	Melbourne
01.08.25	Western Australia	1	5	FA XI	Fremantle
03.08.25	Western Australia	1	5	FA XI	Perth

P	W	D	L	F	A
25	25			139	13

GK	Teddy Davison*	The Wednesday
	Harry Hardy*	Stockport County
FB	Stan Charlton	Exeter City
	Joe Hannah	Norwich City
	Cecil Poynton	Tottenham Hotspur
HB	Jimmy Hamilton	Crystal Palace
	Len Graham*	Millwall
	Billy Sage	Tottenham Hotspur
	Tom Whittaker	Arsenal
CH	Bill Caesar**	Dulwich Hamlet ***
	Charlie Spencer*	Newcastle United
IF	Jimmy Walsh	Liverpool
	Jack Elkes	Tottenham Hotspur
	Bert Batten	Plymouth Argyle
	Billy Williams	West Ham United
CF	Ernie Simms [c]*	Stockport County
OF	Charlie Hannaford	Clapton Orient
	Stan Seymour	Newcastle United

* full internationalist
** amateur internationalist

The 18 players were from the following Divisions:
Div 1- 8
Div 2- 5
Div 3- 4
Isthmian League- 1***
 *** Caesar was 'on the books' at Darlington (Div 3) in the 1924-25 season but didn't make any first team appearances.

Bert Batten- scorer of  47 goals during the tour 

John Lewis was never one to shy away from controversy. He reported the  Australian FA  for paying  their players £1 per day, a £5 bonus and broken time payments. Mr Lewis also disapproved of their use of substitutes.

Sport Club Rio Grande

Sport Club Rio Grande isn't one of the first names that comes to mind when we think of Brazilian football. A modest history, playing down in Rio Grande do Sul, winning the Campeonato Gaúcho in 1936. But Os Avós have  the honour of being the oldest active club in Brazil.  Matches were played as early as 1898, but the official foundation date of the club is  19.07.1900

There were a large number of German settlers in Rio Grande, and it was from the German community that the impetus for forming a club came. The main instigator was a young Hamburger called Johanes Minnemann, Among those who shared the enthusiasm was Arthur Lawson, an Anglo-Brazilian who was born in Rio Grande and who had recently returned from his studies in England.

English sailors, of course, have to feature somewhere: the club's first 'outside' opposition was provided by the crew of  HMS Nymph.  For the most part, though, the club members had to content themselves with games between  Time A and Time B.

No mention of Lawson in these early line ups , which have a very strong German presence.