Unpaid heroes

Press, 19 October 1976, Page 40

Unpaid heroes

By RON PALENSKI NZPA staff correspondent Buenos Aires

The All Blacks’ 64-3 win against Uruguay in Montevideo last Tuesday cost them a week’s pay. Under International Rugby Board rules, touring players should receive £2.50 (about SNZ4.4O) a day, payable in the currency of the country they are visiting.

The payments—made by the host union—usually start from the day of the team’s assembly and end the day of return to New Zealand.

Payments to the second 1976 All Blacks, however, did not start until six days after they left New Zealand and after they had already landed in Uruguay. The manager, Mr Ron Don, said it was always the intention to begin the payments from the day of arrival in Argentina, even after it had been decided

to play Uruguay first. Mr Don said it was decided not to ask the Uruguay union to make the payments because of the poor state of that union’s finances.

The generous gesture to Uruguay meant the All Blacks were having to live off their own money for the first week of the tour.

The gesture saved the union about SNZ66O.

Several players were disgruntled with the arrangement and said it had not been clearly spelt out to them before the tour, although Mr Don has denied the players have complained to him about it. in fact, the only information the players received about payments was one paragraph of a letter sent by the New Zealand union to each player shortly after the team was selected—and after it was decided to play the first game in Uruguay.