Wynne Gray: Time to leave Murdoch alone in peace

Badge 686 is unlikely to be pinned on his All Black chest and he would feel uneasy wearing one of those caps.

After an eight year lull, Keith Murdoch is back in the spotlight and will be loathing the attention.

My advice to the New Zealand Rugby Union would be to post him an invitation to a capping ceremony and include the badge with the offer.

That's if they can find his address. Try c/- Tennant Creek Post Office where he last surfaced. It is easy to pick his response if he ever collects his mail.

Our paths crossed in 2001. Murdoch had been summonsed to give evidence at a coroner's inquest into the death of local Aboriginal Kumanjai Limerick. We were diverted on the way home from Tri-Nations action in Cape Town to cover the case in the Northern Territory township.

At one break in the case, Murdoch was handed a piece of paper which he scanned briefly, then screwed up and deposited in the rubbish bin. It was an outrageous offer for his life story - $50,000 was mentioned but all Murdoch wanted was peace. He wanted to escape, do a bit of work, drink with his mates and enjoy his own space.

The Outback is full of those sorts of characters, people who do not want to remember their past, who are trying to erase those memories and are most content taking life one day at a time.

Now the rugby union is trying to trace a dwindling group of about 400 All Blacks to award them their first All Black caps after the practice stalled between World War II and 1997. Murdoch is on that list, one who has yet to be tracked down.

He has shown his reluctance to be in the public arena ever since he was sent home from the 1972 tour of Europe, after an altercation with a security guard in Cardiff, and then bailed out on the way home to live in Outback Australia.

Murdoch has surfaced in several headline cases since. He rescued a drowning child and was then a central figure in the Tennant Creek coroner's inquiry.

Murdoch survived those public scrutinies and then melted back into the red dust in the core of the sunburnt country where he has found some solace in the past 37 years.

Now the rugby union wants to honour his time in the All Blacks garb. The intentions are honourable but the efforts will be fruitless. If Murdoch has heard about the latest efforts to trace him, he will be packing up and heading further into the bush.

Write him a letter, post him an invitation, send him some mementos, make him an offer but don't expect him to front.

Murdoch likes his time in the sun but only in the Australian Outback.