All Blacks logo brings more strife

The New Zealand Rugby Football Union has been forced to go cap in hand to the provinces and the Maori board asking for their late approval to drop the words "New Zealand" from the All Blacks logo.

The decision to change the logo was made by the board in March and confirmed last week by the NZRFU after it had been leaked to the media.

But the publicity only brought to light an embarrassing oversight.

"The decision to change the logo required approval at annual general meeting level," chief executive Steve Tew said yesterday.

"That part of the process was overlooked."

The annual meeting was in April, but at that time the board and administration were mired in the World Cup co-hosting debacle.

The error could have been corrected a few months later when a special meeting was held to elect a new board.

However, the opportunity was again missed.

The 27 provincial unions and Maori board have since been asked to retrospectively approve the change to the logo, which is being made to make the All Blacks jersey tougher to pirate.

Tew said he was hopeful all would agree and that the issue would be resolved in the next few days.

If some unions baulked at the proposal, the new board might be forced to back down on the logo changes.

The slip-up follows several other embarrassing mistakes by the NZRFU.

These include naming Taine Randell as All Blacks captain for the tour to England, France and Wales before coach John Mitchell got to do so.

Later it was realised that Steve Devine had been picked for the All Blacks in breach of IRB regulations.

- NZPA