Players escape league ban

Press, 5 October 1977, Page 56

Players escape league ban

By

JOHN COFFEY

Three leading candidates for the 1978 New Zealand rugby league tour to Australia, Lyndsay Proctor, Gary Kemble and Murray Netzler, will probably be the last players to evade the international transfer ban. Proctor, Kemble and Netzler have been regular teammates for the Ellerslie club and Auckland, and in the next few months will combine their talents to assist the New Hunslet side in the British second division. Another lesser-known British club, Blackpool Borough, has gained the services of two Mount Albert (Auckland) players, Mark Tavai and Billy Kem, for the northern winter.

However, the secretary of the New Zealand Rugby League (Mr R. R. Williams) said yesterday that clearances " were issued in all cases only because negotiations had been in progress before the International Board reimposed the overseas transfer restrictions at a meeting in Sydney in June.

Under the new regulations a player who wishes to switch his allegiance from one country to another virtually has to go through the procedure of emigrating. He must have a residential qualification of 12 months and even then his adopted club might have to pay a fee to obtain his release. Proctor, Kemble and Netzler were fortunate that they had been in contact with New Hunslet’s officials before the International Board reached its decision. A clause in their contracts stipulates that they must return to Auckland by March 31.

All three players have reasonably firm claims to be included in the Kiwi squad next year. Proctor, at 6ft 2in and 16st 41b, has the size and mobility to develop into a regular test prop and, at 25 years of age, should benefit considerably from the experience to be gained in Britain.

Proctor had the ill luck to sprain an ankle in his debut for New Zealand against Britain in 1974, and has appeared in eight other tests since then. A national representative in 19-years and under-23 teams, Proctor has not always shown the authority that his powerful physique suggests he is capable of.

But he has been quite devastating in his running over the second half of the Auckland season and last week was chosen as the Auckland Supporters’ Club’s “player of the year.” If Proctor can master the traditional British skill of ball distribution his retention in the Kiwi ranks would be automatic. The stocky Netzler left

Auckland only a few days 1 after captaining the New I Zealand Maoris to victory s over Western Australia in 1 the final of the Pacific Cup i tournament, and was the I logical choice — for the second time — as the 1 hooker in the Pacific XIII < named after that match. ' / A swift striker for possession, the 24-year-old Netzler also has the happy habit of , contributing vital tries at • club and provincial levels. , He attended the World Cup training camp at Waipu Cove in May. J ! Kemble emerged from ob- ] scurity to replace the former , All Black, Joe Karam, as . Auckland’s full-back when only 19 years of age last year. There was some crith cism from Auckland observers when he was omitted from the World Cup side and he recently returned to the Ellerslie line-up after recovering from a leg injury. A successful season in Britain would promote Kemble’s chances of challenging the World Cup fullbacks, Warren Collicoat (Wellington) and Michael O’Donnell (Canterbury), for the Australian tour. In addii tion to his sound defence

and effective attacking, Kemble is a useful goalkicker. The international ban has had a major effect on the activities of the wealthy Sydney Clubs, which can no longer look to New Zealand and Britain for players to bolster their teams. It is to be in force for a period of four years. The first prominent New Zealand player to have his career interrupted by the transfer will be Mark Graham, who appeared in

two of the World Cup fixtures this year. An outstanding loose forward, Gra« ham has married an Australian girl and plans to settle across the Tasman. Although he has said that he has no great desire to enter the rugged arena of Sydney professional football, Graham would be an obvious target for the talent scouts. But he must sit on the side-lines throughout 1978 and then have his club negotiate a clearance from the New Zealand Rugby League. The ban is all-embracing between the four major rugby league nations. That will be of no consolation to the Christchurch club, Mar-ist-Westem Suburbs, which is in contact with Jim Murphy, a former Australian prop who has expressed a keenness to play and coach in New Zealand.

Murphy would have to coach in a non-playing capacity for the first 12 months until he qualified for residential status, according to Mr Williams, who added that it will be "virtually im« possible to get an immediate transfer in the future.”

Proctor found himself on the losing side in his first game in Britain at the weekend, an NZPA staff correspondent reported. Proctor arrived in Britain on Friday, but shook off jetlag to produce “a man-sized tackling stint.” Reporting New Hunslet’s 20-5 loss to Bradford Northern the “Yorkshire Post” said the Leeds Club could take consolation from the Aucklander’s performance. He “looked the type of forward who once he settled will do much for the club,” the newspaper said.