Revealed: truth behind Keith Murdoch’s fate
A new book by Ron Palenski reveals how a posh military man and a Kiwi mongrel turned the screws on the All Blacks.
Ernie Todd has been criticised, mostly privately but sometimes publicly, for being a poor manager, not firm enough with some of the All Blacks players.
Yet he has also been criticised for being too firm, to the point of irrational – such as warning Keith Murdoch as early as after the flight from Auckland to the United States that he could be sent home if he transgressed again.
Todd also showed courage and selflessness that is not often acknowledged. He first made it public that Murdoch was going home from the All Blacks’ 1972-73 tour at a hurriedly convened press conference the Monday after Murdoch was involved in an incident with a security guard at a Cardiff hotel.
Todd said the decision was entirely his, although he had been in contact with both British and New Zealand officials. Back in Wellington after the tour, he told the annual meeting of the NZRFU the same thing.
He and just three other people in the room knew that not to be the whole truth. He took responsibility during the remaining nineteen months of his life for a decision that was not his alone; in fact, it was forced upon him. The other three in the know, and who kept their secret, were the chairman of the union, Jack Sullivan, his deputy Ces Blazey, and union secretary Ray Morgan.
Years later, it was revealed Todd had said in a private tape recording to his wife Pat: ‘‘. . . on three or four occasions he’s been in trouble and . . . John Tallent
. . . he virtually demanded that I send him home’’. Tallent was a London stockbroker who was chairman of the Four Home Unions Tours Committee.
KARAM KNEW THE TRUTH
There was another person in the know. Joe Karam, an All Black on his first tour, formed a bond with Todd through both being members of the Marist St Pat’s club in Wellington. Karam recalled that, both before and after the sending home, he and Todd frequently had quiet chats.
There was no indication before the Welsh test that Todd was unhappy with Murdoch, or of any problems with him. ‘‘The first I knew was when Ernie told the team that Keith was going home,’’ Karam recalled.
Later, the teˆ te-a` -teˆ te between the two men continued and it was at one of these meetings that Todd told Karam the real story. ‘‘He told me he was virtually ordered to send Keith home or the tour would be called off.’’
The person who did the ordering was Tallent.
A COLOSSUS OF WORLD RUGBY
John Arthur Tallent, 61 years old when the All Blacks toured, was the senior statesman of the rugby establishment. He was almost a living blueprint of the archetypal British rugby administrator. He’d been to the right school (Sherborne in Dorset), one of the right universities (Cambridge), the right regiment (the Honourable Artillery Company in the City of London) and, of course, his rugby pedigree was impeccable: Blackheath, Kent, Barbarians, East Midlands, England.
He finished World War II in
1945, aged 34, with a military OBE and the rank of lieutenantcolonel. He was president of the Rugby Football Union in 1959-60, a season that encompassed the
50th anniversary of Twickenham, and he was made a CBE. Inevitably, he also became an England representative on the International Rugby Board (IRB).
He was well known to senior New Zealand rugby figures: a familiar face at receptions, dinners, matches and any other functions on All Blacks tours. He had the soldier’s upright stance, the trim moustache the same colour as his greying hair, and he spoke what is known as ‘‘proper’’ English – what some people might call posh.
He was a personal friend of Ces Blazey, who often dined with Tallent and his wife Helen on trips to London.
A FRIEND OF THE NZ BOARD
Jack Sullivan was as much a product of his upbringing as Tallent was of his.
A fast and shrewd second fiveeighth or centre, he played for Taranaki and became an All Black for the series against South Africa in 1937.
Leg wounds during the war in north Africa ended his playing days, and he embarked on a long career in coaching and administration. He also rose to become managing director of Caltex. He joined the NZRFU inner sanctum in 1962, becoming chairman in 1969.
Sullivan, like Tallent and Blazey and others of that era, was a man of his word; there was no need for lawyers or memorandums of understanding or heads of agreement or any of the other extraneous paraphernalia of modern rugby. The words were plain, unvarnished with jargon, and left no doubt about what was meant. Agreement would be reached by a shake of the hand, and nothing more needed to be said or done.
‘‘NO COMMENT’’ SULLIVAN
As chairman of the NZRFU, Sullivan gained a bad press because of the continuing controversy over contact with South Africa and his discomfort at being questioned by journalists. He became known for reading official statements, the wording of which had been agreed by all councillors, but refusing to comment beyond them. ‘‘No comment’’ could have been a nickname for him.
He cared deeply about the welfare of New Zealand rugby and knew its image was being harmed by events he saw as being beyond his control (although others saw it differently). Publicly, he came across as stern, almost humourless, but privately he was affable and typical of his type, courteous and well-spoken and happy to reminisce into the night over a beer or a gin and with an ashtray handy.
Tallent and Sullivan, disparate and alike at the same time, were the two who controlled the fate of Murdoch and the tour.
Since Murdoch’s ‘‘offence’’ did not take place on the field of play, there was no disciplinary procedure to follow; no hearing at which parties could state their cases before a rugby bench, which would make a judgment.
Five years before, after Colin Meads had been sent off against Scotland, a disciplinary panel sat two days later and suspended him for two games. He was not allowed to state his case. At the following IRB meeting, in 1968, Blazey argued that an accused must be allowed to have a say, so the law was amended. But it applied to only on-field offences.
TOUR AGREEMENT LOOPHOLE
A tours agreement, as the document was generally known, was usually drawn up between the host and touring unions and covered all manner of issues and possibilities. A generic tours agreement was under consideration at the time of the 1972–73 tour. It had been agreed in principle at a meeting of the IRB in June 1972.
A draft was then circulated to member countries and Blazey responded with comments which were discussed by the Four Home Unions (FHU) on the day Ian Kirkpatrick’s team arrived in London.
It was not a contentious document. Blazey’s comments were along the lines of whether the words ‘‘tour’’ and ‘‘team’’ should be capitalised. He said they should not; the committee secretary, Albert Agar, replied that the members wished to retain capitals.
Agar remarked in the same letter to Blazey: ‘‘Just a brief
note to let you know that the Tour has got off to a tremendous start. Everyone is most impressed with Ernie Todd, who handled the Press Conference extremely well. It was a gruelling few days for them in London and I think they were relieved to move out to Gloucester and get on with it. And get on with it they did – a magnificent game.’’
THE MANAGER SHALL HAVE THE POWER TO SEND HOME ANY PLAYER
The agreement included the provisions for foul play and misconduct on the field as amended after the Meads sending-off. Under a section called ‘‘common form conditions’’ there was this paragraph:
‘‘10. Discipline. The Manager shall have power to send home any player whose conduct may, in his opinion, have rendered such player unsuitable to continue as a member of the Team. The cost of sending a replacement of such player returned home shall be at the expense of the Visiting Union. A full report of the circumstances under which a player has been sent home shall be submitted by the Manager to the Union and the Visiting Union.’’
The paragraph was not mentioned in the October exchange of letters between Blazey and Agar. There was no mention in the agreement of what role, if any, the FHU would or could have in the sending home of a player, and such an omission implied it was solely within the manager’s power.
But a verbatim recording of a conversation between Sullivan and Tallent, kept in the NZRFU headquarters in Wellington, leaves no doubt that Tallent was responsible for Murdoch’s going.
The conversation was recorded verbatim because Sullivan repeated Tallent’s words and union secretary Morgan, who was sitting alongside, was able to write down both sides of the conversation. Blazey, a stickler for accuracy to the point of pedantry, was also present and able to check the transcript.
Tallent and Sullivan had first spoken the day after the Cardiff test, and Tallent said he would follow up the call with a cabled report of what happened at the Angel, or at least a version of it, and what the views of Tallent and the Four Home Unions Tours Committee were.
On the Wednesday, Sullivan arrived at the NZRFU. He met his deputy, Blazey, by arrangement and called in Morgan.
CALL SEALED MURDOCH’S FATE
Sullivan said he needed to call Tallent again and asked Morgan to write down everything, with Blazey to confirm the accuracy. Sullivan would repeat what Tallent said so Morgan could get both sides of the conversation.
Sullivan got Tallent on the line at 4pm Wellington time (3am UK) and told him the promised cable had not been received. He needed to report to his council and wanted to confirm the conversation of the previous Sunday. Tallent agreed to outline what had been said. Morgan’s transcript read: Can I quote you to Council as saying that the team was undisciplined? Answer – Yes.
That if Murdoch did not go home, the tour was in jeopardy? Answer – Yes.
If Ernie did not make the decision to send Murdoch home, he was in jeopardy? Answer – Yes.
Mr Tallent added that, as an alternative to Murdoch not going home, he would have requested a change of manager.
Asked to enlarge on this, Mr Tallent stated that he would have called a meeting of the [FHU] Committee to decide that this should have been done.
Mr Tallent went on to say that the . . . guard involved in the incident had appeared on their television and had said ‘‘now Murdoch was going home he would not take any civil action’’.
Mr Sullivan asked what needs to be done to allow the tour to function smoothly from this point on. Answer – Mr Tallent stated that nothing needs to be done now. He thought Murdoch was the troublemaker and should now let things go on as regards the rest of the tour.
Mr Sullivan asked, ‘‘What are we doing wrong – their press are very anti – what is the problem?’’ Answer – Mr Tallent stated bad language and untidyness [sic] of dress.
Mr Sullivan asked, ‘‘Would he and Ernie be having a talk?’’ Mr Tallent said ‘‘Yes’’.
Mr Sullivan told Mr Tallent that he had spoken to Ernie and that Ernie was upset by press reports re misbehaviour off the field and that Ernie did not accept that this behaviour should be criticised.
Mr Sullivan said, to recap the whole position once more, and to confirm the telephone conversation of two days ago, was this the position – unless Murdoch went home, the tour was in jeopardy? Answer – Yes.
If Murdoch did not go home, the manager was in jeopardy? Answer – Yes. They would ask for a replacement of the manager.
Mr Sullivan stated that he was delighted that Mr Tallent had kept his views out of the Press and we have done the same.
Mr Tallent stated that he thinks now it should not be put into writing, although he had agreed to send a cable before.
Mr Sullivan told Mr Tallent that, in the public view, the NZRFU Council, and he personally, were being accused of over-ruling the manager to send Murdoch home.
In summary, the transcript shows: Tallent, in the presence of [IRB member Ken] Harris and Agar, must have phoned Todd in Birmingham and told him Murdoch had to go or else; Tallent and Todd must have agreed to keep quiet about the FHU influence; both the NZRFU (in the person of Sullivan) and FHU (Tallent) agreed to say nothing publicly, thereby leaving the burden entirely on Todd and Murdoch and, by extension, Ian Kirkpatrick and the rest of the players.