S.I. Must Win Back Ranfurly Shield To Attract N.I. Teams

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31349, 20 April 1967, Page 11

S.I. Must Win Back Ranfurly Shield To Attract N.I. Teams

(By Our Rugby Reporter)

The high cost of travelling and accommodation for Rugby teams is sharply reflected in the home representative programme for Canterbury Rugby followers this season.

Canterbury’s delegates to the annual meeting of the New Zealand Rugby Union—where the fixtures are arranged—Messrs A. K. Johnson, C. H. McPhail, J. Storey and O. J. Hattersley, were perturbed when they found a strong reluctance from North Island unions to play in the South Island.

The reason given was the obvious one—the high cost of travelling—but there was another reason which North Island union delegates made quite clear in private discussion.

The Ranfurly Shield is now in the North Island, and the unions there have tried to arrange their programmes so that they can cover possible contingencies if Hawke’s Bay loses the shield. Only three North Island unions—Auckland, Wellington and Wairarapa—will play at Lancaster Park, and as Wellington’s is an annual home-and-away fixture and Auckland plays here every second year, that leaves Wairarapa in lonely eminence as the only North Island union to tour south this season outside of its customary fixtures. WEAK PROGRAMME

This dearth of North Island unions wanting to tour the South Island this year has left the Canterbury Rugby Union with one of its least at tractive representative programmes for many years. Since Canterbury lost the Ranfurly Shield in 1956, the shield has made only fleeting appearances in the South Island, and the continued hold by North Island unions of

this most prized and lucrative trophy has completely changed the balance of power in New Zealand Rugby. Because of travelling costs and the fact that the shield is in the North Island, Canterbury now faces a representative home programme which brings only one team—Auckland—to Lancaster Park after the local club Rugby season has ended.

Wairarapa and Wellington both play here in July and after that, except for the Auckland game, the programme consists of Buller, West Coast, Mid-Canterbury, South Canterbury, and Otago. The final fixture list was a disappointment to the Canterbury officials who tried hard to attract North Island unions. But until the shield returns to the south, it seems that South Island unions must be reconciled to playing among themselves, with the odd intrusion by a North Island union which owes a return match from the times when South Island unions toured the North Island.

Members of the Canterbury

Rugby Union quite rightly criticised North Island unions which have failed to honour their commitments, but there is little that can be done at present. There is the cost factor facing teams which tour the South Island and also the fact that apart from Southland, Otago and Canterbury, there are no strong unions in the South Island which would attract spectators when their teams tour the North Island. The growing strength of North Island Rugby has meant that most of the stronger unions there can get quite satisfactory attendances without having to rely on a visit from a South Island union.