‘Meads still an amateur’

Press, 9 April 1977, Page 48

‘Meads still an amateur’

Colin Meads and Fergie I McCormick are still aniaj teurs —- in spite of what John Reason wrote in the “Daily Telegraph,” London, this week. Reason alleged that the

I International Rugby Board’s I rules on amateurism had been breached in New Zea-, (land through the Colin! I Meads biography. : But this was rejected ' yesterday by Mr C. A. Bla- ■ zey, a Wellington man who is chairman of the inter-] (national body’s laws com- ' mittee. I The New Zealand union’s 1 ] decision to permit Meads to (put money from the sale of;' “Colin Meads, All Black”: into a trust fund for his! : family “drove a juggernaut”! (through the 1.R.8. rules on amateurism, Reason wrote. | However, Mr Blazey said the matter depended entirely ion the terms of the trust. I The New Zealand union’s executive had given careful consideration to two cases '

I — those involving the Meads and McCormick biographics — and was [satisfied that the terms of (the trusts met requirements. Reason questioned whether Gareth Edwards, the Welsh half-back, would [have to relinquish his amateur status if he accepted! any proceeds from his biography, as yet incomplete. ( “The stable door has been opened so wide for Meads

51 that it is hard to see how it ■can be shut again,” he 51 wrote. f, An 1.R.8. stipulation that [no-one could receive remull neration or material reward, /whether direct or indirect, I from a book was quoted by ■ Reason. But Mr Blazey rell mained unimpressed. ■ “Colin has not and could ' not receive any money himi self because of the terms of > the trust,” he said.