Pre-Test Parties Off

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32274, 17 April 1970, Page 15

Pre-Test Parties Off

CV Z Press Assn.—Copyright) LONDON.

The British Rugby' League side to tour Australia and New Zealand this season will not attend any receptions with- 1 in five or six days of a test match, the manager (Mr J. Harding) said yesterday.

“However, there will be no boycotting of anything while we are in these countries.” he added.

Mr Harding, who is making his first international trip as manager, said: “I want this tour to be a happy one, and I’m confident it will be.” He said that the Australian Rugby League had changed one reception from before a i Sydney test to after the match.

The question of the reception had been raised in correspondence between Mr Harding and Australian officials.

“1 want the players to be perfectly fit before the test matches. The league authorities appreciate this.” Mr Harding said.

The secretary of the English League (Mr W. Fallowfield) has told Mr Harding about the Australian and New Zealand conditions. He managed Britain’s world championship teams in 1957 and 1968.

Mr Fallowfield said there would be no repetition of the

incident which marked the 1962 tour of Australia. That season, the manager of the British team cancelled an engagement at the St Georges Leagues Club shortly before a test match after British officials had originally agreed to the function being held.