Think again, Labour urges All Blacks

Press, 16 July 1983, Page 7

Think again, Labour urges All Blacks

PA Wellington The Leader of the Opposition, Mr Lange, has repeated his call for the Prime Minister personally to discourage All Blacks from playing in South Africa. Mr Lange sent telegrams to seven All Blacks said to have been invited to a rugby festival arranged by the Western Province Rugby Union and to two rugby officials. According to reports yesterday they will leave for South Africa on Sunday. Mr Lange said that Mr Muldoon should follow the lead set by the British Prime Minister, Mrs Thatcher, who urged the M.C.C. not to go to South Africa. “If the Prime Minister fails to follow this course of action he has failed under his obligation to prevent all sporting contacts with South Africa,” he said. “A letter to the. Rugby Union is not enough.” Mr Muldoon has written to the union discouraging contact with South Africa, and said he would not write to individual players. They could read about the Gov- «

ernment’s opposition in the newspapers, the Prime Minister said.

In his telegrams Mr Lange urges the players to think of the impact on New Zealand if they travel to South Africa “in support of racist sport in a divided society.” The seven All Blacks to whom Mr Lange has sent the telegrams are Steve Pokere, Stu Wilson, Mark Shaw, Gary Whetton, Bernie Fraser, John Ashworth, and Gary Knight. - There is still confusion about how many of them will make the trip. The All Black manager, Mr Paul Mitchell, has banned the All Blacks from talking to reporters about their plans. “We have had a number of calls from all sorts of people over this and it is upsetting their concentration,” Mr Mitchell said. “We are trying to ignore the South African games. Winning the test against the Lions is the main priority for the team as a whole and as far as we’re concerned the games in South Africa are of little consequence.” He declined to name the seven players going to South Africa.