Should Maori Rugby Teams Tour Overseas?

Press, Volume CV, Issue 31007, 12 March 1966, Page 11

Should Maori Rugby Teams Tour Overseas?

r pHE decision of the New A Zealand Rugby Union not to accept the invitation of the South African Rugby Board to tour in 1967 because the invitation specifically excluded Maoris was accepted quite placidly by most New Zealand Rugby followers simply because they felt that the New Zealand Union had taken the correct course.

However, there has been an aftermath to this decision and one which is closely allied to the principle that teams representing the New Zealand Rugby Union should not be chosen on racial grounds.

The question being asked is should the New Zealand Union now send Maori teams overseas?

Those who supported the New Zealand Union’s stand on the South African tour are now asking that the principle should be carried further and that there should he no more Maori teams selected for overseas tours.

The protagonists of this course take a simple but direct view of matters. They say that if a team cannot tour South Africa because it cannot include Maoris, thus debarring all Rugby players in New Zealand; then there is no reason why purely Maori teams should tour overseas and even have games against touring teams in New Zealand. Mr T. C. Morrison, chairman of the New Zealand Rugby Union, does not support this view. He told “The Press” that as far as he was concerned that Maori Rugby would always have a special place in New Zealand.

“There is no possibility that we will stop the separate Rugby existence of Maori teams. Those who say this should be done should remember that Maori teams were touring overseas long before New Zealand ever began playing against South Africa.”

Mr Morrison said that Maori Rugby had made a great contribution to New Zealand Rugby and that should never be overlooked.

However, it is felt that one reason why there have been overseas tours for Maori teams in recent years is because it was a compensation for them not being able to tour South Africa. Now that a South African tour for any New Zealand team has been declined then there seems no valid reason why there should be separate tours.

The muddled thinking that has occurred on this issue was well illustrated by the president of the Federation of Labour (Mr T. E. Skin-

ner) who recently announced that the F.O.L. would boycott any sporting teams selected on a racial basis.

When challenged by Mr Morrison on wether the boycott would include Maori teams going overseas or playing in New Zealand, Mr Skinner replied that it would only apply to teams selected on a racial basis which were supposed to be representing their country. The weakness of this argument is obvious. If the New Zealand Union decided to send a team to South Africa in 1967 consisting only of Europeans then it could not be representative of New Zealand Rugby, so therefore the F.O.L. could have no reason to boycott such a team, if Mr Skinner’s argument was followed. Mr Skinner perhaps has not thought of this possible solution to his boycott but then in 1963 he also broke the tenets of the F.O.L. which opposes all teams selected on the grounds of “race, colour or creed.'' when he, as a senior member of the New Zealand Rugby League Council, officially welcomed the South African Rugby League team to tour New Zealand.

The South African Rugby League team was a European side.