Kiwi tour a flop?

Press, 4 July 1978, Page 28

Kiwi tour a flop?

NZPA special corres. Rockhampton New Zealand needs to more than double the gate-takings from its last five games in Australia if the 1978 rugby league tour is to be a financial success. After 10 games in country areas, the New Zealanders have attracted receipts of only $32,509, of which they share 50 per cent. It is not yet known how big the “gate” from the first test at the Sydney Cricket Ground was, but it is hardly likely to lift the Kiwi finances, as there were only about 11,000 paying customers present.

The budget for the tour has not been made public, although it is believed that it may be as high as $lOO,OOO. New Zealand has test matches at Lang Park, Brisbane, on July 15, and at the Sydney Cricket Ground, on July 22, to come in the final fortnight of the Australian segment of the tour, but there is no guarantee that the public response to these will be earth-shaking.

Swimming.—Barbara Krause, of East Germany, has set a new world record in the women’s 200 m freestvle in tmin 59.045ec—--9.225ec faster than the mark set by fellow East German Kornelia Ender at the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal.