SOOTH AFRICAN VIEW OF APARTHEID IN SPORT

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 29061, 25 November 1959, Page 7

SOOTH AFRICAN VIEW OF APARTHEID IN SPORT

European players and organisers of spoils in South Africa hate hot been responsible for the problem associated with the exclusion of non-whites in sports teams in South Africa, btrt they had been most affected by the controversies, according to an article in “On the Road,” the South African counterpart of . the United Commercial Travellers’ and Warehousemen’s Association’s official journal, the “New Zealand- Traveller.” The article is reprinted in this month’s issue of the “New Zealand Traveller.” The article, which was obviously written some time ago, reads:— “The New Zealand Rugby Board has decided that no Maoris will be included in the tour of South Africa and it is to be hoped that the unpleasant controversy which has been raging over the matter will end. It is unfortunate that the trouble which has arisen in so many sports over the question of whether non-whites should be included in Springbok teams or in teams opposing them in this country has affected mainly those who are not responsible for the problem—the white players and organisers of the games in this country. “When people overseas think that they are making a protest against South Africa’s apartheid laws by saying that South African teams should not be accepted in international competition because non-whites are not being included in South African teams or that non-whites cannot be included in teams touring South Africa, they forget two things. “Obey the Laws” “The first is that South African sportsmen have no option but to obey the laws of the country and tbe second thing is that the only people who are really injured by this sort of thing are the sportsmen themselves, many

of whom could feel quite M strongly about these laws as those critics thousands of miles away from the problem.

“Mr Reg Honey has been overseas to settle a similar sort of question which has been raised on the International Olympic Committee and he has given the assurance that if any non-white sportsman in this country measures up to Olympic standards he will be included in a Springbok side. At the moment at any rate the problem is not likely to arise for in athletics at any rate the best ndn-European athletes have shown themselves below standard. There seems no valid reason why Mr Honey's promise should not be kept “Efforts had to be made to placate the International Football Federation (FJ.F.A.) to enable South Africa to continue to participate in internatiohal soccer. Table tennis at the moment is still suffering as the result of these political activities—and again it is the players and organisers who are suffering.

“One wonders sometimes if those people overseas who are attempting to bring their grievances against South Africa into sport realise just how much the white sportsmen of this country have done and are still doing to help the non-white become a good sportsman. They would probably be shocked, for instance, if they were told that the objections to Frank Worrell’s team’s tour of this country were not raised by white men—that the tour has been blessed by white cricketers, that they will help it all they can and support it with their money.”