SARU ponder Maori apology

[Burgs]

SARU ponder Maori apology

25th April 2010 14:51

The South African Rugby Union (SARU) is poised to issue a formal apology for demanding that Maori players be excluded from New Zealand touring teams of the past.

New Zealand's Sunday News quotes SARU president Oregan Hoskins as saying that the issue is to be discussed at a meeting of the body's executive council in mid-May.

"Apartheid was an evil that shattered millions of lives over the years and continues to shadow the lives of all people in South Africa. We battle with the legacy every day," said Hoskins.

"We are aware of the current debate in New Zealand and will be discussing it at our next meeting, after which I would like to meet Maori representatives in New Zealand during the Tri-Nations."

Should the apology be forthcoming, the pressure will be squarely on the New Zealand Rugby Union to follow suit in what is the centenary year of Maori rugby. It has yet to apologise for bowing to South African demands to exclude Maori players from the New Zealand tours of 1928, 1949 and 1960.

Interesting watching Friday Night Football last week where they posed the question to their audience for feedback. I don't know the resut but the lady host who is Maori and a former Silver fern suprisingly wasn't really in favour of it, suggesting the Maori people had moved on, but if the individuals involved felt they needed an apology themselves then fair enough.

[Cookie]

I think(as a non-maori) the NZRFU should be the first to apologise to the Maori players of that time for accepting those tours under those conditions, they let all New Zealanders down by touring. The results of those matches should not be recognised as official because the teams that toured should not have been recognised as a true NZ representative sides, maybe they should have travelled under the banner "THE ALL WHITES"