Maori Affairs Minister Pita Sharples says the New Zealand Rugby Union (NZRU) is arrogant for refusing to apologise to former Maori players for excluding them from past tours to South Africa on racial grounds.
The Sunday Star-Times reported that author Malcolm Mulholland found out about the unresolved issue while researching his book Beneath the Maori Moon. He wrote to the NZRU last year inviting it to apologise but they did not want to play ball.
The South African government's apartheid regime of segregation was in force from 1948 to 1994. Maori players were excluded from All Black tours in 1928, 1949 and 1960.
Dr Sharples said an apology would be a small but appropriate gesture.
NZRU Maori Board chairman Wayne Peters told the newspaper that the board considered the matter twice.
It decided in the centenary year of Maori rugby it was better to focus on celebrations rather than political issues from the past that would never occur today.
