A “WASHOUT”

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 31, 29 April 1927, Page 6

A “WASHOUT”

REPORT ON LEAGUE TOUR OLD FACTS REITERATED Real Issue Is Side-Tracked By J. M. Mackenzie, Sports Editor. At last the long looked for report of the joint managers of the Mew Zealand League team which recently toured England has been made public—or at least part of it has. But so far from furnishing any sensational disclosures in connection with the trouble in the team, which was the real reason for the failure of the tour, the report can quite frankly be termed a “washout.” For the most part, it is a colourless reiteration of a number of less important factors in the non-success of the tour, all of which have been dealt with months ago, and which have been more or less relegated to the limbo of th ings forgotten. The all-absorbing question of the interna! trouble in the touring team, which resulted in seven players being disqualified for life, is not dealt with in the report, which was handed to the Press for publication after being considered in committee by the N.Z. League Council last night. It is ot giving away any state secrets to say that it was known in well-informed League circles that the original report of the managers dealt very fully and very frankly with the causes of the trouble on tour. The governing body, no doubt, felt that no good purpose could be served by washi dirty linen in public, an d from its own point of view, there is much to say in support of this attitude. But as far as the present report is concerned, the League might have taken a firmer stand. To publish a report, which can be bluntly termed a camouflage of the real issue, for which there has been a considerable Press and public clamo ur, is in marked contrast with the firm and determined stand which the governing body took in the matter of punishing those who were considered responsible for the failure of the tour.