Officials differ over itinerary

Press, 4 July 1983, Page 21

Officials differ over itinerary

NZPA staff correspondent Dunedin The manager of the British Lions, Willie John McBride, sharply criticised the length and content of his team’s tour itinerary during an official test match dinner in Dunedin on Saturday evening. His comments, supported by the Lions captain, Ciaran Fitzgerald, followed the tourists’ 8-15 loss to New Zealand at Carisbrook which gave the All Blacks an unassailable 3-0 lead in the four-test series. Mr Mcßride asserted during his address that the itinerary drafted for this tour had been badly planned and could be partly blamed for the unsuccessful nature of his side’s visit. He said the decision to cut the duration of Lions tours from 25 to 18 matches had been unwise, adding that only foolishness allowed the home unions to accept an itinerary which pitted the tourists against provinces such as Wellington, Auckland and Canterbury in mid-week days. The chairman of the Home Unions Tour Committee, Mr Mickey SteeleBodger, whose committee accepted the itinerary, listened to the criticism without comment, but later sharply rebutted the remarks of both men. “If we had won the series the argument would be that because we played such hard matches we were toughened by them and ready for the tests,” he said. “If yob lose the series it is because the build-up matches were too hard.

“You will never get the itinerary that suits everyone and judgment tends to be governed by hindsight and is based on results that occur,” he said.

A Fomer England international, Mr Steele-Bodger said his committee had only approved the current itinerary after it had been examined and accepted by the team management, the managers of past tours and discussed with officials of other nations which had recently toured New Zealand. “Things can change dramatically in 12 months. Some countries touring Britain have asked for changes, sometimes radical ones, and we have always attempted to comply,” he said.