Wallaby rebel tour rumour ‘rubbish,’ says Aust, coach

Press, 7 May 1986, Page 76

Wallaby rebel tour rumour ‘rubbish,’ says Aust, coach

By

CHRIS PETERS,

NZPA staff correspondent in Sydney

The Australian rugby coach, Alan Jones, yesterday dismissed as "absolute rubbish,” reports that an Australian rebel side would tour South Africa in October.

But Mr Jones reiterated a previous warning that if the New Zealand rebels at present touring the republic are banned by the New Zealand Rugby Union on their return home, anything was possible — including the birth of professional rugby. “There is no way in the world Australian players are going to tour South Africa this year,” he said yesterday. “We have our most demanding season ever in 1986 and when that is over we will start preparing for the World Cup. There is no way any of my players will go and play in South Africa during the summer. “You have to understand the relationship between me and my players. I know the rumours around but they are absolute rubbish.”

Those rumours found their latest voice in the form of the game’s rival code — the Queensland Rugby League’s deputy chairman, Ron McAuliffe, claimed at the week-end that a rebel Australian rugby tour would go to South Africa in October. Mr McAuliffe warned that one of the consequences of such a tour could be the emergence of professionalism in rugby union, producing a big-money scramble between both codes for top players. Faced with a flat denial

from the Queensland Rugby Union’s executive director, Terry Doyle, Mr McAuliffe retorted that he did not “go off half cocked” and was privy to “certain information from a reliable source.”

He suggested players would travel to South Africa individually and join up there for a tour. Rejecting talk of such a rebel tour, Mr Jones added the proviso that his comments depended on what happened to the New Zealand players when they returned home. “The rules of the game change (if there is a ban),” he said. “The officials are playing with fire. There will be professional rugby if the New Zealand players are banned — I’ve predicted all this in the past. “These (New Zealand) players haven’t broken any law — they don’t have to go cap in hand to get permission to play in South Africa. If you pay the piper you call the tune, but they aren’t in that situation.

"Andy Dalton and his mob can play with the South Africans at Cardiff Arms Park and there’s no problem but they go to South Africa to play with the same people and there is.

"I can’t understand the thinking behind that.” Early last month, a former Wallaby prop, Stan Pilecki, said in Brisbane that the South

Africans planned to stage a tour by rebel Australians in October.

Pilecki, who made the prediction before leaving Australia to play with the rebel New Zealanders in an invitation game against Transvaal, gave as his source of information, the rebel New Zealand team coach, Colin Meads, and manager, lan Kirkpatrick. "They said the South Africans were going to stage an Australian tour in October if this tour is a success,” Pilecki said. “I can’t see why it wouldn’t be.

“This will blow the whole question of Australia’s rugby links with South Africa wide open. Either the Australian Rugby Union says we play officially or a rebel tour will go ahead.” "The Australian players want to go and if money is offered, they will be even more tempted,” he said. Since the riot-marred Springbok tour of Australia in 1971, the Australian Rugby Union has officially discouraged links with South Africa and there have been no tours either way since.

However, pressure has built inside Australian rugby circles for a renewal of old ties — especially as the Wallabies have begun achieving more international success, marked by their 1984 grand slam tour of Britain.