Rugby in the University

It was not unnatural that eventually the New Zealand University Rugby Football Council would become so powerful a body that it would dictate to the New Zealand University Students' Association terms on which N.Z.U. Blues would be awarded to N.Z.U. Rugby players and on the eligibility of its teams for both national and international matches. Rugby, being as it is the national pastime of the majority of New Zealand males and therefore financially rewarding to the bodies which control the sport, is big business. When last year the N.Z.U. team played the Springboks it was believed that the acme of high places had been reached. When, however, they succeeded in defeating this formidable touring side nothing more could be said to praise the brilliance of the players and the foresight of their administrators in arranging this match.

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The result of this rise to power was to make N.Z.U.R.F.C. laugh in the face of a request by N.Z.U.S.A., officially the controlling body of university sport in this country, that the eligibility of N.Z.U. Rugby touring sides should be the same as for Winter Tournament. This year, in view of the proposed N.Z.U. Rugby tour of Australia, the question is of more than academic importance. The basic question to be answered is this"—are N.Z.U. Rugby players to be treated in any way differently from the rest of the University sportsmen in this country?

Action must be taken by N.Z.U.S.A. to prohibit the sending away of an N.Z.U. Rugby touring team which includes players who are not at present studying at a university or university college. The New Zealand Rugby Union, following questioning on this matter from Mr. T. Pearce of the Auckland Rugby Union, met with the executive of the N.Z.U.R.F.C. We don't know what the results were of this meeting, but we can conjecture that the Rugby Union members have been convinced that N.Z.U.R.F.C. were in the right. A letter from N.Z.U.S.A. informing the New Zealand Rugby Union that it does not consider a team which inclures non-students as a bona fide representative team would be in order at this stage.

In spite of their financial position and their national support, the New Zealand University Rugby Football Council must not be allowed to run rings round N.Z.U.S.A. That body has a duty to its other members to take action on this matter.