Money woes threaten Kiwi tour

Press, 20 November 1989, Page 25

Money woes threaten Kiwi tour

NZPA Carcassonne (France) An urgent meeting is being called between the Kiwis and the French rugby league over the financial viability of their tour.

Kiwi business manager Tom McKeown said yesterday that he was seeking assurances from the French that the estimated $150,000 cost of this leg of the tour would be met through gate receipts. With the first test postponed from Perpignan to Carcassonne the crowd for that match was likely to be low, Mr McKeown said.

As well, he said, the Kiwis had two other games in the city — against Selection de L’Aude'on Wednesday and the second . test on December 3. In a sport that was not that popular in France anyway, the novelty value of watching the Kiwis could wear thin for locals. “I have serious doubts whether we can get three reasonable gates in the same city,” he said. The Kiwis finished the British leg of their tour in the black and were hoping the French section would leave them with a slight profit over all, he said.

“The way it looks now, any profit made in Britain

is going to be lost here.” The postponement of the first test had him worried and he would be contacting the Kiwi team’s bank in England on Monday to send funds to France as a back up. “I was hoping the first game and the test would give us enough money to keep us going,” he said. “Everything’s been more expensive than ex-

pected.” With the Kiwis’ daily food bill about $l2OO alone, funds were running low. He said he would try asking the French rugby league for a $150,000 guarantee of the tour but doubted if they would agree. "In 1985 we told them we were concerned about the financial viability of the French leg of the tour and they couldn’t care less. They told us that was our problem. “We’re going to have to talk to them about ensuring that we get good gates. It’s pretty hard to tell them we want guaran-

tees because if we give guarantees from here

they’ll want to get guarantees when they go to New Zealand.”

Financially the tour had started well with a good gate for the Kiwis first French match against Selection Midi Pyrenees at Toulouse last Wednesday.

More than 600 people paid to watch the Kiwis, which exceeded the 300 who watched the first two matches New Zealand played on its 1985 tour. The first test postponement now threatened to ruin everything, he said.

With the first test switched to Carcassonne because of Saturday’s flooding there was now talk of playing the second in Perpignan, instead of Carcassonne as planned.

In that week the Kiwis will be based in Narbonne, a three- to fourhour journey from the venue.

Narbonne was originally chosen to host the second test and the Kiwis could not afford to change their hotel bookings to either come back to Carcassonne or go to Perpignan, he said.