S.A. BAN ON TEAM

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30367, 17 February 1964, Page 13

S.A. BAN ON TEAM

Not Able To Play (N.Z. Press Association) AUCKLAND, Feb. 16. The Harlem Globetrotters were refused permission by the South African Government to play in Johannesburg. “We've visited 87 countries —including the seven iron curtain countries—and South Africa is the first one to turn us away,” the owner of the Negro basketball club, Mr Abe Saperstein, said in Auckland tonight Mr Saperstein said be had arranged to visit Portuguese East Africa, Ghana, Rhodesia, Tanganyika and Mozambique on the understanding that the team would be permitted to play in South Africa. Appearances there were essential to cover the financial losses inevitable in the smaller African territories. The South African Government declined the Globetrotters’ applications for work permits with a terse, onesentence decision. Mr Saperstein decided to go to Africa to assist the game of basketball and, as expected, found that many of the people could not pay the admission charges to the team’s performances. “Strangely enough," said Mr Saperstein, “when we played in Bulawayo, in Southern Rhodesia, we had South Africans flying from Johannesburg and Durban to see the games.” The team was allowed to stay overnight in Johannesburg before flying to Perth and while in the South African city stopped at one of the leading hotels in the city.