U.S.-’Bok match to go ahead

Press, 3 September 1981, Page 3

U.S.-’Bok match to go ahead

NZPA Chicago In spite of protests by local black leaders, a rugby match between an American all-star team and the South African Springboks would take place as scheduled, the organisers said yesterday. The match is scheduled for September 19 and will be played at an undisclosed venue, according to Mr David Hall,.secretary of the Chicago Lions Rugby Club. The Lions are organising the match, but the team that will play the Springboks will be made up of all-star players from the Midwest Rugby Union. Mr Hall said the venue for the match would not be made public because of the “negative public response" it had generated. On Monday, an aiderman, Mr Danny Davis, who is black, urged the city council to pass his resolution of August 11 denying the use of any city-owned or public facilities to the Springboks. Meanwhile, Mr John Logan, of the Boston area’s Mystic River Rugby Club, said more than 50 players had joined a coalition called “Against South African Playing.” Mr Logan said his group has sent some 300 letters to leaders of the 350 clubs that make up the Eastern Rugby Union, which invited the Springboks to play on September 22, in Albury, New York, and September 26 in Rochester, New York. Mr Thomas Selfridge, president of the Eastern Rugby Union, satid he had received only three protest letters from the rugby community, two of which came from Logan and the Mystic River club.