THOSE SELECTORS!

Wairarapa Age, 16 December 1924, Page 5

THOSE SELECTORS!

BIG SEVEN CRITICISED. HARVEY AND BADELEY. “If somebody had done his duty and tackled an unpleasant task, neither Badeley nor Harvey would have left New Zealand after thei® return from Australia/' says “Ponty,” m the “ Manawatu Times,” in an unaccompanied wail under the heading of “Truth will out.” The wail continues: “When it is considered that Jack McNab, the best lock in the country, was dropped for Harvey (a centre threequarter for an obscure club in 1923) much of the fault of the All Blacks scrummaging is accounted for.” Then follows a long story why Badeley should have stayed at home.

When, the above was referred last evening to Mr E. McKenzie, chairman of the All Black Selection Committee, his reply was brief. “In. the case of Badeley/* he said, “we were guided entirely by the report of the doctor, who said his knee was quite sound. Harvey, ’ ’ he continued, ‘ ‘ was selected on his merits, and his absence from the teams through sickness is' bad luck. He also underwent inspection on his return from Australia, and the doctor apparently had no idea that the tbuch of tonsilitis would hang to him for six months.”

Harvey’s sickness is certainly bad luck, especially in view of information received privately by a Masterton resident from a prominent member of the All Blacks party.. The letter, which was shown to “Poster,” stated: “Jt is to be regretted that Harvey has gone out for he is ‘ the goods. ’ In the early matches in which he played he turned out the right stuff and his forced retirement is an unfortunate business?’

“ Ponty’s” lament, however, is inconsistent. In one breath he coiib plains of Harvey’s absence from the playing teams, and. in the next accuses the Wairarapa man’s limited ability as a lock of pausing the All Blacks scrummaging deficiencies.