TOO SUCCESSFUL

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XVIII, Issue 82, 19 March 1928, Page 3

TOO SUCCESSFUL

AIL BLACKS IN BRITAIN MR. 8. DEAN ANSWERS CRITIC. GRIMNESS ALL HEARSAY. “The All Blacks could have been as popular as the Waratahs are reported to have been—if they had liked to lose a few matches.” In these words Mr. S. S Dean, chairman of the Management Committee of the New Zealand Rugby Union, and manager of the 1924 Rugby team in England, replied to criticism of the All Blacks’ standing in England uttered by a returning New Zealand sportsman.

Mr. Dean does not even agree that the All Blacks deserve the name for grimness and implacability, which they are said to have possessed. Continued success, he agrees, is monotonous, and that was the All Blacks’ only offence. “The figures which have been quoted to show that the Waratahs returned the English Rugby Union a greatei profit than the All Blacks did are all hearsay,” said Mr. Dean. “The International Board meeting is on Saturday next and then we should be given something authentic. At present I should say that the position is too complicated for anyone to gain a clear idea of how the two teams fared on the financial side. It is true that there have been reports that the Waratahs will net a greater profit, but circumstances were very different for the two tours. FOl instance, the Test between New South Wales and England ,at Twickenham, returned £15,000 to the authorities and the All Blacks’ gate w,s only £9BOO. But then the English Rugby Union had added 20,000 seats to Twickenham since oui visit As it was we had a ‘capacity gate and every ticket was snapped i_p without being placed before the general public. All the tickets were sold through the clubs to Rugby enthusiasts, and the man in the street had no opportunity of obtaining admission unless he knew someone to buv a ticket for him.

“In 1924-5, also, the English Rugby Union sold several matches to France for £lBOO, and this year has allowed New South Wales to take the gate of the French matches. We did not visit Scotland and the Waratahs did. The English Rugby Union took the profits of the AH Blacks’ tour after the clubs had deducted a certain percentage, while the whole proceeds of the Waratahs’ tour go to the International Board and tne clubs receive their percentage afterwards. The takings of the tour, so far, thus are no guide. “Reports of this greater profit and the reasons for it have reached me from England, and some of them are very foolish. It is alleged, for instance that the Waratahs had a man employed to watch them and see that they did not get more than a certain amount of food at their hotels, which would imply than the New Zealanders ate more than their fair share. As a matter of fact, we stayed always at hotels where there was a set tariff not affected by the meals. It has been stated also that we used about 500 jerseys—more than one per man per match! The truth, I think, is that the English Rugby Union had to pav for only one set of jerseys, and that anv others we used were given to us.”