Ban called for

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32639, 22 June 1971, Page 32

Ban called for

(N.Z. Freis Association) LONDON. London newspapers yesterday called for Canterbury to be struck off the fixture list for all future Rugby tours of New Zealand by British Lions teams.

The “Daily Mail’s" Terry O’Connor (reported by the “Mail” to be “at the front line in Blenheim”) said: “Canterbury should be taken off the fixture lists for all future tours by England. For the second time in five years I have have seen this province sadly, the champion of New Zealand go out against the British Lions determined to use brutal tactics." The “Mail” carried the headline, “It’s Rugby War” across the top of one of its sports pages. The “Daily Mirror” said that privately the Lions were “seething and believe New Zealand Rugby is a disgrace.” “The ugly, ill-tempered and often vicious tactics used by Canterbury are sure to turn the younger generation away from the game. The Lions are here to play Rugby and not engage in total warfare. No game can be envisaged Which would cause such havoc as the Canterbury match. Fists and boots were flying throughout.” The "Guardian’s” David Frost, in an 'article headed “Canterbury Must Be Struck Off,” said: “New Zealand Rugby lost face and friends in the squalid turmoil surrounding the Lions’ courageous victory by a goal, a try, and two penalty goals at Christchurch yesterday. “In the first place, Canter-

bury descended to the lowest level of thuggery from the very start, hitting the Lions with fists, knees, or boots at set scrums and line-outs and even in the open field. It was brutal and utterly out of character with the rest of the tour. Canterbury should be struck off the itinerary of the next Lions tour of New Zealand.”

Frost said that the referee let the game go too much. He described a claim by the chairman of the New Zealand selectors, Mr I. Vodanovich, that Lions were lying on the ball as inflammatory. “The Times” said the Lions were “severely bludgeoned by punching and kicking” during the Canterbury match. It said the match atmosphere “became unspeakable when the open terrace spectators, who numbered most of the 53,000 present, howled for the blood of ‘the Poms’."

It finished its match cover with: “The Lions fought magnificently yesterday. Heroes of the original Blenheim would have been proud of them.” “PRELIMINARY”

The "Daily Telegraph” said that “the Lions woke up bruised and aching yesterday morning and learned with interest that the battle with Canterbury was likely to be just a preliminary skirmish to an international war.” It said that Mr Vodanovich had warned the Lions that the first test could become “another Passchendaele.” The “Daily Express” said that the Lions received “a mighty physical thumping during the Canterbury match. The “Sun” said that “more punches were thrown than in the first three rounds of the Clay-Frazier fight.”