BOSS Paul Arnold admits he has no intention of Wimborne Town being perceived as a "Mickey Mouse outfit" after the Magpies were invited to compete at next year's prestigious Hong Kong International Soccer Sevens event.

The two-day tournament on May 31 and June 1 will see Wimborne take on the cream of the Premier League's under-19 talent for the Philips Lighting Cup at the renowned Hong Kong Football Club.

And Arnold's Wessex Leaguers will also play alongside some of the former greats of international football, with World Cup winners Jurgen Klinsmann and Pierre Littbarski among those on show in this year's veterans competition.

Wimborne follow Manchester-based Bexton as the non-league representatives in the Far East after former Magpies general manager Brian McIntyre arranged an invitation for the Dorset club.

And because of the calibre of the opposition, Arnold insists Wimborne will be taking the event very seriously.

He said: "It's a serious tournament playing against the best teams from Holland and the UK and I don't want us to be out there as a Mickey Mouse outfit. We've got to be totally professional in the way we conduct ourselves on and off the field.

"We've got the reputation of Wim-borne Town Foot-ball Club to think of and we want to give a good account of ourselves. It's only a one off and will be a great experience for the lads and I want to make sure we're properly prepared.

"We'll have to take the heat and humidity into consideration and we've got to be looking at players and thinking who's going to last the pace of playing against young full-time professionals. We'll be taking the tournament very seriously and are not going out there for a jolly up.

"Other than the FA Cup, when else can a club of our size get involved with the best clubs in the country. I don't want this opportunity to pass our boys by and we'll do our best to avoid that happening."

The trip will cost £650 per head and Magpies chairman Nick O'Hara has already put the onus on the players to raise the necessary funds.

Arnold added: "I've got to take 10 registered players and the chairman has already put a lot of the responsibility of fund-raising into the hands of the players because if they want to go, they've got to generate money and pay their own way.

"We had a race night a couple of weeks ago and raised about £600 and we've got other stuff in the pipeline too. Some players will go but won't play but will be hap-py to go because it will be such an experience to rub shoulders with those guys.

"We're a small club and people tend to befriend small clubs at big tournaments. By all accounts, they really look after you over there and how many opportunities do players of our standard get to play alongside World Cup and European Cup winners?"

To rub shoulders with these world class players will be a great learning curve for us."

If we get up and running over there, it gives us a chance to establish the name of Wimborne Town and get ourselves a good reputation.