TOUR MAY END AT ONCE

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 148, 20 December 1926, Page 12

TOUR MAY END AT ONCE

(Received 20th December, 2 p.m.)

LONDON, 19th December. The Kew Zealandera' match with Hunslet may conclude their tour,- the League thus losing £2000. In view of the urgency of the position, the League Council will probably meet on 20th January instead of the 22nd. The council refutes insinuations that its decision upholds the malcontents in the team.

From information now to hand it is evident that the New Zealand League tourists were not a happy party before they arrived in England. It is admitted frankly by some of the players that they could not disabuse their minds of the fact that Mr. E. H. Mair (team manager) is an Australian, whose methods of discipline were unpalatable to men accustomed to something very different in New Zealand.

It is said that trouble began at the outset of tho tour, and four members of the sida. felt that the sternness of the discipline was more than they could stand,''and they wanted to book their passages back from Southampton as soon as they landed there, states the London correspondent of "The Post." It is also said that there had been trouble even on the boat. The political persuasions of some players were the subject of criticism, for some of them had'been heard singing "The Red Flag." It was explained that the incident had no significance; a party on deck, in passing the time, chorused any tune that came into their heads. None the less, the criticism to which this incident gave rise rankled for a long time.

It was not long before other difficulties appeared. The team were no sooner established, in their training quarters at Harrogate than some players resented the manager's insistence on Tegular sleeping hours. Notices posted requiring ' players to be in bed by 11 o'clock were torn down. In the matter of training Mr. Mair introduced methods not to the liking of many of the players. In the course of an account of the trouble, the "Yorkshire Post" says:— f The genesis of the trouble dates back to the voyage of the tourists from New Zealand. Four members of the team were threatened with a summary return to their own country before they actually landed at Southampton. Conciliatory counsel smoothed out the difficulties when the team were met by the Rugby League representatives, but the tourists had not long been settled in their training quarters at Harrogate when the simmering discontent of a section of the players broke out into open revolt. Their grievance was a personal one, directed against the disciplinary measures of the team manager, M.'r. E. H. Mair, who, as an Australian, had ideas of control which were not to the liking of some of the New Zealand players. "Not in any match of the tour so far have the All Blacks had their full forward strength available, and since tho Bradford Northern match on 20th October the position has been aggravated by the fact that no fewer than seven of tho forwards have declined to play. The forwards in - question were N. Mouat (the vice-captain of ( the team), F. Henry, L. Petersen,*- J. Wright, W. W, Deviue, A. Singe, and A. Carroll. They vowed that they would not turn out again until their differences with the team manager had been adjusted. How serious those differences were is reflected in the fact that the return passages of some of the players were booked by a vessel leaving for New Zealand on 19th November. The bookings were subsequently cancelled at tho intervention of the Rugby League Council.''

Last month, Mr. Osborne, the Eugby League president, played the role of mediator, and was assisted by Mr. John Wilson, the League secretary. It was thought that the efforts of those officials had resulted in clearing the air and ending a disturbing tension. Tho report then was that a settlement had been facilitated by the magnanimouj way in which the tourists' manager, Mr. E. H. Mair, had agreed, in the interests of peace, to forego some of his authority. 'Mr. Mair agreed to withdraw from the team selection committee, which would bo composed of the financial manager (Mr. G. H. Ponder) along with the captain (H. Avery) and ___*-_____-__*_«_-**J*^'MflMtJ?f,'"" ' .