Dress Suits Not In Favour For The All Black Tour

Wanganui Chronicle, 11 October 1948, Page 8

Dress Suits Not In Favour For The All Black Tour

Dress suits and starched shirtfronts are out as tar as next year's tour oi South Africa by the New Zealand Rugby team is concerned. The official uniform for social functions wilt be grey slacks and Ail black blazers. Ties

will be black except lor one moderately sized white tern leal. The letters N.Z. will not appear. These decisions were reached at a recent meeting of the executive of the New Zealand Rugby Football Union. In addition to their personal wardrobes, the players will be issued with the following gear.—Four jerseys, three nairs of lootball socks, three pairs of pants, one blazer, two pairs of grey slacks, two ties, one scarl, one puiiover, one pair ol sandshoes, one pair of football boots, one canvas kitbag. Silver ferns to be worn on the lapel will also be handed to the players. The union issue will not include hats or overcoats. Extra supplies 01 each item of equipment will be taken for the purposes of replacement. Outfitting the team will involve a layout of about £lOOO. Mr. J. H. Parker said that unless South Africa expressed a desire to lhe contrary, he thought dress suits should be omitted. He doubted whether many of the players had them, or whether they would be able to procure them. He added that the 1924 team in England never wore dress suits on oliicial occasions, although some of the players wore them at unofficial functions. Mr. T. C. Morrison said he had been impressed with the neat appearance ot the 1946 Australian team when wearing their grey slacks and green blazers as their oliicial uniform. The chairman, Mr. A. St. .C. Belcher, moving the adoption of the subcommittee’s recommendations, expressed the opinion that all gear should, if possible, be obtained in New Zealand. Mr. H. J. Constable, honorary agent for the New Zealand Government in South Africa, advised that he had arranged for the All Blacks to be honorary members of several clubs while they were in South Africa. The letter added that he was calling a meeting of New Zealanders in the Transvaal to decide what could be done to make the team's stay as pleasant as possible. *