Report a collectors’ item?

Press, 8 April 1978, Page 52

Report a collectors’ item?

PA Wellington The New Zealand Rugby Football Union has entered the “major league” when it comes to annual reports. The eighty-sixth annual report, which is to be presented to the annual meeting on April 13, is a glossy, warts-and-all look at the 1977 season.

Among the photographs in the report, which is likely to become a collector’s item, are ones which record the start of the try-scoring run by Grant Batty in the first test against the Lions, the light-hearted shaping-up by the Lions captain, Phil Bennet, in the same test, and the action of Bruce Robertson kicking a dropped goal for New Zealand in the third test.

On the cover is the photograph of the season: the All Black number eight, Laurie

Knight, scoring his try in the Auckland test, which gave New Zealand a win in the series, with Bennet standing dejectedly alongside.

The report, a credit to the union’s public relations committee lists the highlights of the past year. In his comments the chairman of the union (Mr C. A. Blazey) says that 1978 will be an important and interesting season, with the union having confidence that the game will continue to progress. Of the Lions tour, the report speaks of the generally adverse weather encountered: “Many of the matches were played under adverse ground and weather conditions. It was also unfortunate that a degree of controversy arose.” In the section devoted to the All Blacks’ subsequent tour of France, the reports says,

“Partly because of the language problems, the team encountered some difficulties during the tour in France but these were overcome and the over-all result must be considered to be satisfactory. “A number of players were representing New Zealand for the first time and, no doubt, this contributed to the loss in the first international: A match which they could have won. However, the win in the second international was clear cut.”

Reporting on the union’s finances, the council says that the Lions’ tour resulted in a surplus to the New Zealand union of about $719,000. ‘.‘lt will be noted, however, that this accounted for almost the whole of the excess income for the year,” it says. The balance sheet shows

the assets at $2,167,952, up from $1,425,220. Of this, loans to provincial unions stand at $604,000 and to local bodies for ground improvements at $304,000. Administration of the game cost $62,336 ($55,005 in 1976) and expenditure on junior and teen-age promotion rose from $19,000 to $23,000. Coaching costs rose from $29,000 to $37,000. The tour to France cost the union $30,804. In two of the matches on the Lions tour, the first and fourth tests, the gross gate takings passed the $200,000 mark. For the first test at Wellington, the gross gate taking was $206,615, while the taking at Auckland for the final test was a record $277,970. The smallest gate taking was at Westport, where the Lions played Buller-West Coast. It was $5048.