Dirty Rugby Boots not the thing to take to New Zealand
New Zealand has very strict controls on what you can take into the country and one thing a lot of foreign rugby players do not think about is the fact that their rugby boots are not very clean. This can even be the case if they look clean on top but have dried mud on the bottom between the studs.
So with the World Cup happening we have picked up that as many as 60 international players have been intercepted at Auckland Airport with dirty boots. The good news is that although the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF) officials seized them they got them cleaned and returned, with plenty of words of warning and just one fine for a player who insisted his boots were clean, when they were not.
World Cup Players Dirty Boots
MAF biosecurity manager Stuart Rawnsley told Radio New Zealand “the other 59 pairs of dirty boots had been declared by players ahead of their arrival. “We did find one team member in one particular team who insisted his boots were clean but they were rather filthy. He further said “European players had also tested officials with unusual demands, one team had imported a ceremonial dress which included a ceremonial dagger. Others wanted to bring in “particular cheeses”. They had to gain special permits to get them into New Zealand.”