PROTEST BY ALL BLACKS

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29233, 17 June 1960, Page 7

PROTEST BY ALL BLACKS

Alleged Threat Denied

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) NEWLANDS, June 15. Statements attributed to the All Black captain (W. J. Whineray) that his team would fight if the Boland prep, P. Du Toit, was included in the South African test side, and published in the Afrikaans weekly paper ■'Landsteem,” were emphatically denied by Whineray and the team’s manager (Mr T. H. Pearce i today. The article, which Mr Pearce has described as “absolutely without foundation," has been leferred to the South African board for action. The journalist who wrote the article is to be asked to attend a press conference which Mr Pearce is to cal) in Pretoria tomorrow to explain his viewpoint. Mr Pearce has asked the South African board to withdraw' all privileges which the author might have had, including that of travelling with the team and tickets to matches, and has instructed members of his team that they no longer are to converse with the man concerned.

Previously, the same journalist had written of alleged incidents in hotels where damage had been caused by the players and that there was a spit developing in the team. New Zealanders travelling with the team say these charges are figments of a vivid imagination. "We consider this latest article is a direct attempt to cause dissension between the players of New Zealand and South Africa,” said Mr Pearce. "We have never instructed, and we will not instruct, our players to play illegally. We are taking certain steps about this article—and its author. He will not be welcome with the team.

“We are at a great disadvantage in a bilingual community in that we do not know what is being written about us in Afrikaans, though we put our position clearly to reporters when we arrived. “This is the first time on tour there has been anything of this sort. Both the English and Afrikaans daily newspapers to date have been almost completely objective in their reporting,” he said.