Rugby head quits A.A.A.

Press, 3 June 1981, Page 1

Rugby head quits A.A.A.

PA Wellington Mr C. A. Blazey last evening retired as chairman of the New Zealand Amateur Athletic Association moments after the executive committee defeated a bid to depose him. Mr Blazey told the meeting he would retire because he felt he could no longer

represent his centre, Waikato, which had supported the move to oust him, and therefore he could not continue to serve on the committee. An Auckland proposal had earlier called on Mr Blazey to resign because his position as chairman. of the N.Z.A.A.A. conflicted with his other post as chairman of the New Zealand Rugby Union. This move was defeated by the meeting. The committee, which had earlier made a strong statement against the Springbok tour because of its possible effect on New Zealand athletics, voted to retain Mr Blazey, 20 votes to 18. However, Mr Blazey, in his fifteenth year as N.Z.A.A.A. chairman, told the meeting he did not have the confidence of Waikato, a situation he found “intolerable.” “I don’t think it would be acceptable to any person sitting round this table,” he said. “If I haven’t got the confidence of the people who appoint me, I no longer wish to be involved as their representative.” He told the meeting he would write to the Waikato centre to say he no longer wished to be its representative. Mr Blazey, who had abstained from all earlier proceedings last evening, withdrew immediately from the meeting, which later passed a resolution expressing its “deep and sincere appreciation” of his work as chairman. Mr Geoffrey Jackman, of Wellington, was then elected to succeed Mr Blazey, who had served on the committee for 27 years and was made a life member of the association in 1973. Earlier,, the meeting had resolved to ask the New Zealand Rugby Union, of which Mr Blazey has been chairman for four years, to withdraw its invitation to the Springboks. The committee said it felt strongly that the freedom of one group of sportsmen to compete where and with whom they wished should not be exercised if those in other sports had to suffer.