Chch schools will accept grant

Press, 3 May 1985, Page 3

Chch schools will accept grant

Christchurch secondary schools will not follow the example of their Wellington counterparts and refuse to accept this year’s annual grant from the local rugby union.

Wellington schools have made the move to distance themselves from the rugby establishment, as a result of the decision to send the All Blacks to South Africa. The chairman of the Canterbury Rugby Masters’ Association, Mr Mike Lindroos, said yesterday that he had read of the Wellington decision, but did not think it would be followed. “If we declined the grant, it would mean that we would have to charge the

schools fees, and that is something we would be reluctant to do. Nor do we blame the Canterbury Rugby Union for the New Zealand union’s decision to tour,” he said.

It went without saying, he said, that rugby masters in Christchurch were still very much opposed to the tour. Wellington schools have also decided not to play curtain-raisers at Athletic Park this year, as a further act of protest. Mr Lindroos said that in Christchurch individual schools were invited to play curtain-raisers and it would be up to a school to decide whether it wanted to play.