ALL BLACKS.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 17 June 1924, Page 7

ALL BLACKS.

NO- MILITARY SHIRKERS. STATEMENT - BY UNION. (by TELEGRAPH —PRESS ASSOCIATION.) WELLINGTON, June 16. The New Zealand Rugby Union has issued , the following statement on the suggestion that evasion of! military duty was not taken into account in the selection of .the All Blacks : “So far as the New Zealand Rugby Union is concerned if it were known that any man actually shirked war service he would not be considered a fit representative of the Dominion as a footballer, and a decision to that effect ivas made some years ago, and the New Zealand Rugby Union, as at present constituted, has no intention of departing from it. As far as we are aware -there is no man selected in the present team who comes under this category. “Rumours are current, and in fairness to the members of the team, who are all more or less brought into disrepute by such romours, w T e feel that this statement should be made. If anybody has any information with regard to any of the players chosen failing to answer the call of their country for war service we shall be glad to have the facts brought before us. At the present time the New Zealand Rugby Union has no information regarding any of the players that would justify exclusion from the team on the score of failure to render service to their country during the war period.”