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New Zealand's World Cup team have reacted with dismay to a local newspaper report alleging one of them greeted caterers at a stadium with the words, "good morning niggers".
Team manager Lindsay Crocket yesterday rejected suggestions that a member of his group made such a remark, saying the newspaper report gave credibility to an unsubstantiated and unfounded rumour.
The Antigua Sun alleged that local caterers setting out the lounge area at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium before last week's game against the West Indies were stunned by the slur after greeting a group of New Zealand team personnel.
Crocker said he and World Cup operations director Michael Hall had investigated the allegation and interviewed the catering staff, and were satisfied that there was no case to answer.
"We talked to the catering staff, who said there were three or four people in the room at the time, that they didn't know who they were, but that they were older members of the group - which we thought could have been members of the management team," said Crocker.
"They said the three had been talking on the other side of the room and they thought they'd heard the word 'nigger'. They weren't sure if they heard it accurately, and they didn't hear any other comments.
"They said the comments weren't directed at them and they weren't of a mind to make a complaint."
Crocker said the New Zealand team took stamping out racism in sport extremely seriously and were at pains to establish what had happened, and if the allegation merited any further action or a more thorough inquiry.
He baulked at the idea of issuing a categorical denial because the information from the catering staff suggested there was nothing to deny.
"It quickly became clear to us that wasn't any substance to the issue and so we took it no further," he said.
Crocker said he'd made the team aware of the allegation after the win for their own information, but hadn't questioned anyone in particular because there was no evidence of wrongdoing, no complaint, and a lot of doubt over the veracity of the allegation.
But yesterday's report had forced him to explain to the media what was known, and why the team had opted against pursuing any line of inquiry.
"We've seen today a grossly embellished account based on a rumour that is utterly inaccurate," he said.
