Pro-Tour group takes up case for All Blacks

Press, 5 July 1985, Page 2

Pro-Tour group takes up case for All Blacks

PA Wellington

The pro-South African tour group, SPIR-New Zealand, is taking the plight of All Black State servants to the Human Rights Commission.

A Spokesman for SPIR, Mr Pat Hunt, said the “discrimination” against those All Blacks would not only threaten their livelihoods but also penalise their families.

He said SPIR had approached the Human Rights Commission and was to lay a complaint about the treatment of the selected players.

Other State servants were allowed to travel to South Africa for conferences and

seminars, Mr Hunt said. He expected the State unions to take up the matter on behalf of their members.

The All Blacks who may be affected are Mike Clamp and Warwick Taylor, who are teachers; Murray Pierce, a policeman; Scott Crichton, a Railways Corporation worker; and Wayne Shelford, a Navy physical education instructor. Mr Hunt said that SPIR was continuing with its Support Rugby Fund and would give the money to players penalised for their right to play rugby. The fund stood at $6OOO but he hoped to raise about $20,000.

A former All Black captain, Mr Andy Leslie, is coordinating the fund.