N.Z. Games off until 1979, at least

Press, 1 June 1977, Page 1

N.Z. Games off until 1979, at least

By

KEVIN McMENAMIN

No New Zealand Games will be held this year — or next year.

The proposed date for the second Games is January, 1979. The Games, first held in January, 1975, were to have been repeated in January this year, but because of the increasing likelihood of a heavy financial loss, the organising committee last November made what it described as “an indefinite postponement.”

The suggestion then was that the Games might be held in association with an international athletics meeting—the Pacific Conference Games — at Canberra next December.

This was still being considered as recently as a month ago, but yesterday the organising committee’s executive director (Mr A. W. Barrett) said it was obvious that nothing W’ould come .of it.

He said that although no formal decision had been taken by the organising committee its executive, at a recent meeting, had virtually decided to concentrate on January, 1979.

“It would be too late now to attempt anything this year, and next year is out because it is a Commonwealth Games year,” Mr Barrett said.

The proposal for 1979 would restore the Games to the two-year cycle orginally intended, filling, the gap between Commonwealth and Olympic Games years. The cancellation last year was deemed necessary because of the economic climate. The committee, with good reason, doubted whether ticket sales would return anything like the $378,000 needed for the venture to have a chance of finishing out of the red.

Mr Barrett said the economic situation was not much different now, and for this reason it would be just as dangerous to plan for this year. But by 1979 things might have improved, and it gave the organising committee time to get on with its own fund-raising. Experience has shown that unless most of the fares for overseas teams are paid by the host country’, many invitations will be declined. Conscious of this, Mr Barrett said that the fundraising w’ould have to be on a scale which would enable the committee to pay "80 per cent, 90 per cent, or even 100 per cent” of the travel costs for overseas competitors. The organising committee would probably "let matters drift” for a few months, and a firm decision about 1979 would have to be made by early next year. He said 1979 might be a good year to attract top athletes, particularly Northern Hemisphere athletes building up for the 1980 Olympics at Moscow. In addition, the Commonwealth Games at Edmonton in August next year would be ideally timed to make personal contact with competitors who might be invited. Mr Barrett still firmly believes in the concept of a New’ Zealand Games, and he says that the sports bodies think the same way. He, for one, would like to see the sports that missed

out this vear included on any 1979 programme.

“I think we owe it to the sports that were disappointed this year. We made a commitment to these sports and failed them. If they are happy to try' again then they Should be included.” Mr Barrett acknowledges that the choice of January, 1979, could put the organising committee on another collision course with the South Pacific TelevisionPan Am athletics meeting, which was successfully held last January and is planned for the same time again next year. However, Mr Barrett, with other New Zealand Games officials, sees the two projects as very different. The sponsored athletics meetings, they say cater for just a few top athletes. whereas the Games are for a far greater number, and brings together five sports. It was impossible to say, he said, what changes might be made in the composition of the organising committee if the 1979 proposal was taken up seriously.

The present chairman (Mr M. F. Hunter) is overseas on holiday for two months, and the deputy chainman (Mr J. E. Davies) has recently shifted to Wellington. “If the sports are keen. I am optimistic that we could get a team together again,” said Mr Barrett, who nowadays combines his Games work with the secretarial duties of several other sports organisations.