INSULT TO NEW ZEALAND

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 310, 22 March 1928, Page 1

INSULT TO NEW ZEALAND

Rugby Friendship Menaced DRASTIC ACTION ADVOCATED Dominions Treated as Outcasts THERE is unquestionably now a real menace of an AngloDominion Rugby split.” This warning is sounded by ’’Sporting Life” in reference to the International Rugby Board’s decision not to send a team to New Zealand in response to the Dominion’s invitation. ’’lnsulting” is the word used by the paper to describe the decision. By Cable. — Press Association. — Copyright.

peed. J. 5 a.m. LONDON, Wert. Sporting Life” says: The Rugby wor ld has been warned lor the past s ii years that the farcical constitution o( the so-called International Board n'ould lead us into danger. That moment has arrived in the form of the cabled statement by Mr. S. F. Wil,on, of Christchurch. New Zealand, that a real menace exists to British Rugby unity, and that no British team Kill ever visit New Zealand as long aa the men at present in charge of aJairs in Scotland and Ireland have a say in the question. Mr. Wilson significantly adds that this will not aJect future visits of New Zealand teams to England. Sporting Life’s” expert. Mr. C. W. Packford. says that the time has undoubtedly arrived when drastic action must be adopted if Britain is to retain the Dominions as Rugby friends. The constitution of the board is all vrong. Australia, New Zealand and South Africa merely occupy the position of outcasts, and are incapable of discussing an important point in common council.

Of the Home unions, England is the best friend the Dominions possess. Wales appears neutral, but Scotland is violently antagonistic to its overseas brothers, and Ireland gives the impression of supporting Scotland in everythin^ The attitude of Scotland toward New Zealand is anything but pleasureable. Surely,” adds Mr. Pack'oni, "we are not going to lose the mends hip of three centres of the Empire which have given to Rugby rome of the most magnificent players ud sportsmen the game ever produced."—A. and N.Z.

TEAM MAY COME ENGLISH UNION’S HOPE RUGBY BOARD DIVIDED j Reed. 9.10 a.m. LONDON, Wed. j It is understood that the Interna- | tional Rugby Board's majority decision j not to send a team to New Zealand in 192.0 is unlikely to prevent a team from going. If the English union is unable, meanwhile, to persuade the other three unions to co-operate, it is likely to send a purely English team. “We do not know what underlies the Scottish opposition,” said one authority. “It cannot definitely be said whether they are trying to abolish International tours, but certainly they are unsympathetic to them. Irish members support them, and thus the board is divided into one section which believes tours should be encouraged in the interests of Empire sentiment, as well as of sport, while the other section stubbornly opposes them.—Sun. Mr. S. F. Wilson, whose opinions are quoted, is chairman of the Canterbury Rugby Union, and was New Zealand delegate to an International Rugby conference in 1925. In spite of his efforts, the Dominions were denied representation on the International Rugby Board. A return of the visits of the AH Blacks, Maori team, and Services team has been repeatedly promised by Britain, and the assurance that a team would be sent in 1930 was accepted as final. I-atest developments suggest that a further disappointment is in store, and may precipitate acute resentment in this country. The last British team, an Ans-glo-Welsh combination captained by A F- Harding, who later settled at Tailiape, came to New Zealand in 1908