College Refused Senior Status

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31188, 12 October 1966, Page 19

College Refused Senior Status

An application from the Teachers’ College Club for senior status in 1967 was last evening rejected by the Canterbury Rugby Union because the club’s performances “had not reached a sufficiently high standard” during 1966.

The management committee approved a recommendation from the grading sub-com-mittee to this effect. The committee’s report, while advising against the club’s promotion, commended the club on raising its standard in comparison to 1965.

The report said that the inpromotion, it would have been crease in students, and the lengthened period of training at the college, should enable the club to win promotion soon.

Mr N. D. Morris said that the All Black half-back, C. R. Laidlaw, would be in Christchurch attending the college in 1968; he had heard that Laidlaw would be prepared to play for Teachers’ College if it had senior status.

Many students played for other clubs because of the college team’s junior status, Mr Morris said.

Mr Morris said that the club’s most difficult task was to win senior status, and that it would not be out-classed once this was accomplished. He said the club supplied about 23 or 24 referees this year.

“The grading sub-commit-tee’s duty was to assess the performances of Teachers’ College,” said Mr F. J. Foley. “They must prove themselves by force of performance.” The number of defaults by college teams in lower grades was “astounding” and made running a competition “just about impossible,” said Mr J. Storey. “We are coming round to my suggestion of two years ago, of having two grades of eight teams,” said Mr R. W. Thomas.

Mr Foley said that if Teachers’ College had warranted promotion, it would have been recommended, regardless of having 15 senior teams. If the Teachers’ College players had senior status the’v would have a greater influence on Rugby later as schoolteachers, said Mr B. J. Drake.

“What do they have to do to get senior status? They were not given a thrashing when they played in the bottom four last season,” Mr Drake said. The president (Mr A. K. Johnson) said that one game had resulted in a fairly big margin. He said that the club won one of its four matches. Mr Foley moved that the recommendation be approved. No votes were recorded against the motion.