MAORI MATCH.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 184, 5 August 1936, Page 8

MAORI MATCH.

SPECIAL REQUEST.

BY ENGLISH LEAGUE PLAYERS

TRIBUTE TO NATIVE RACE,

(By Telegraph.—Own Correspondent.)

NEW PLYMOUTH, this day.

The high opinion of Maori footballers gained by the English Rugby League team on its New Zealand tour has resulted in a wish being expressed by the members of the party to meet a full Maori side representative of New Zealand before the tourists leave on return for England, in spite of the fact that no such fixture has been arranged.

The business manager of the team, Mr. R. Anderton, has cabled the English Rugby League headquarters, Leeds, for permission to delay sailing a. week in order to arrange such a match. An announcement to this effect was made at the ball at which the Englishmen were guests last night by Mr. Anderton, who referred to the happy nature of the Dominion tour. Mr. Anderton stated that the fixture was dependent purely on the English Rugby League's decision. The last match of the tour as scheduled will be played at Auckland against New Zealand on August 15, and the party should leave Auckland the same day for Southampton, via the Panama Canal in the liner Akaroa. If the request of the team is granted the party will delay departure until the following Saturday, and sail 'by the Mariposa for England, via the United States. In the intervening time England will meet a Dominion team of j Maoris at Auckland.

The extra time and expense involved in the proposed altered schedule is discounted by Mr. Anderton. "My players hold nothing but the highest opinion of the Maoris as men and footballers," declared Mr. Anderton. "and nothing will give them more pleasure than to meet them before we sail. In this and in past Dominion tours the cordial feeling between players of both races has been a marked and happy characteristic of the Maoris of New Zealand. I assure them they are worthy opponents and good fellows." In the light of the present, racial feeling over the coining visit of the Springboks to the Dominion, this gesture by the Rugby League players is significant, and repercussions among Maori footballers and supporters in both Union and League codes are likely to be interesting.