“Send Me Home” Asks N.Z. Team Player On World Tour

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30451, 27 May 1964, Page 19

“Send Me Home” Asks N.Z. Team Player On World Tour

(N.Z. Press Association/ WELLINGTON. May 26. The Wellington centrehalf and captain, R. McBriar, confirmed reluctantly today that he asked to be sent home during the -New Zealand soccer . team’s world tour. Mcßriar said he took this action when .it became obvious he was not being considered for selection. He played only one game of the 14 on the tour, although he was not available for four games in Switzerland and England because of influenza. The match he played was the third of the tour, when New Zealand was beaten, 7-1, in Bangkok. Mcßriar said he first discussed' his position with the team’s manager, the New Zealand Football Association chairman (Mr J. I. Kershaw) in New York.

He told Mr Kershaw that he considered himself “excess baggage” and that perhaps it would be best if he were sent home. Then he wrote to Mr Kershaw: “The fact that I have been overlooked continually, even when the first choice centre-half has been injured, has left me in little doubt that I am not even being considered for selection. “Recently 1 spoke to you in an effort to find out just where I stood. Your explanation, to be frank, was that 1 was not good enough.

“Of course you are entitled to your opinion, but I fail to see how you can be so conclusive since the original squad was named in New Zealand. Up to the present moment, 1 have played in only one game. “I feel this shows, on your part, a surprising lack of faith in my ability and in that of

the original selection panel which considered me good enough to make this tour. In short, 1 feel your action is not only unfair to me, personally, but to New Zealand soccer as a whole. “Consequently, much as 1 regret having to do so, 1 feel 1 have no choice other than to request that I should be sent back to New Zealand at the earliest opportunity.” “1 never heard anything after that,” Mcßriar said today. He would still be available

for New Zealand teams if he were selected, but he added: “I can't imagine being selected somehow." In an interview today, Mr Kershaw was not prepared to listen to Mcßriar’s story. “Frankly, I don’t care what he says.” said Mr Kershaw. “If it’s too bad, he might not play football.**