Liquor law 'bad’

Press, 22 August 1979, Page 6

Liquor law ' bad’

The rugby officials were particularly critical of four points of the regulations: the relating of licensed hours to the “principal activity” of a club; the summer close-down from October 1 to February 15; the discrimination which restricts their organisations to only a few hours each week in the winter compared with the more liberal hours alloted all year to sports such as golf and squash; and the complicated nature of the legislation. Mr T. P George, the secretary of the Canterbury rugby club presidents’ and club captains’ committee, said that sports bodies had welcomed moves to legalise drinking, but were now “sick and tired of the words ‘ancillary licence’.” “We have been trying hard, with the assistance of the police, to interpret this inept law,” Mr George said. “No-one — solicitors, police or sports officials — seem to know what it means. “It is evident that the Liquor Licensing Commission did not realise how well

rugby clubs are run, that the commission’s members were too old to understand modern thinking, and that many Parliamentarians are completely out of touch with the ways of sporting clubs,” Mr George said. Mr G. T. Nolan, the president of the New Brighton Rugby Club, said that because of the reference in the laws to “principal activity” only active players could legally drink after a match. Any officials or supporters had to be invited by those engaged in the activity. “In my opinion the word ‘principal’ stinks. Who the hell thought of that?” asked Mr Nolan. “New Brighton has 1000 members. Our club is controlled, has no problems in behaviour, is fair and honest. I think.the discrimination of hours among sports is bad, and the law is bad. “Why is there discrimination — are rugby people not important people, are we just a pack of mugs? We are doing a job for the people of Christchurch and as far as 1 am concerned our club has to provide social amenities 12 months of the year. Running a rugby club is not a six-month business,” Mr Nolan said. Mr Nolan suggested, and

was supported by other speakers, that rugby clubs be allocated a licence for 25 hours a week in the offseason. It would be each club’s responsibility to notify the police how the hours would be used, and to ensure they were observed.

In reply, Mr Elworthy said that the alternative to tile legislation in force had been to create drinking clubs that were associated with sport, so it was decided that the hours granted should bp ancillary to the sporting activity. Several speakers assured Mr Elworthy that their prime objective was to foster rugby, not to develop “booze barns” or set their clubs up in opposition to hotels and taverns. Mr Elworthy said that some clubs, he would not say where, had treated the law as a chance to make money to build bigger rooms, which in turn would attract more members, more money and even larger facilities. He suggested that administrator's should wait until his committee’s report was completed. He said that clubs should seek permits for special events, such as prizegivings, once their licences expired for the year on September 30.