BAY OF PLENTY BEACON Published Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. WED, AUGUST, 11, 1948 A JUSTIFIABLE PROTEST

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 12, Issue 80, 11 August 1948, Page 4

BAY OF PLENTY BEACON Published Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. WED, AUGUST, 11, 1948 A JUSTIFIABLE PROTEST

Mr W. T. Parata, M.8.E., member of the Maori Rugby Advisory Board since 1922, has protested strongly against the N.Z. Rugby Union’s decision not to include Maori players in the All Black team to tour South Africa next year without consulting the Maori Advisory .Board. If it is true that the matter has never been discussed by the Maori Advisory Board, then it does seem that the Union : has failed to accord that Board a courtesy that is undeniably its due. And, if the facts are as Mr Parata states them, then his protest is fully justified. So would a protest against the non-inclusion of Maori players in a New Zealand team be justified. After all, the Maori' was',a New Zealand before the pakeha, and no team from which Maoris are barred can truly represent this country. • Moreover, in all the country districts of the North Island, at any rate,’ the code owes a lot' to its Maori players, supporters and executives. The Maori race has produced some of the best players and some of the best sportsmen in the game in any part of the world, and if the South Africans do not like to face that fact they should be told to lump it.

To exclude New Zealanders (who were every but good enough to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with their Pakeha comrades on the battle field and help to build this country’s enviable reputation in every country to which the war took them) from a tour such as this shows a lamentable, lack of national pride on the part of the officials concerned;?;.’ . - To have done so at the Maoris’ own request would have been quite a different thing. Knowing what the probable attitude to them might be in a place as riddled with race distinction as South Africa has the reputation of being, no-one would blame them for making such a request if they had done so, but Mr Parata says they have not eVen been consulted. In any event, if there were any doubt about any of our players being treated as anything other than New Zealanders anywhere,

then would not the correct thing be to keep away from such a place until it chose to mend its manners? Sports can be a great influence for drawing men of all nations, creeds and colours together. International competition can help a lot in understanding amongst the peoples of various countries. And the true sportsman admires and respects prowess in another, whatever his race . or colour, so long as he plays the game cleanly and fairly. That anything in the nature, of race distinction should be allowed to creep into our national game or its management is unthinkable. One hopes there is an explanation other than the one suggested by the facts so far published.