COLOUR ISSUE COULD STOP S.A. TOUR

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31276, 24 January 1967, Page 15

COLOUR ISSUE COULD STOP S.A. TOUR

(N.Z. Press Association —Copyright) LONDON. South Africa’s refusal to allow entry to a British cricketer of mixed blood in the forthcoming tour of South Africa has forced the M.C.C. to make a decision, lan Wooldridge said in the “Daily Mail.”

The controversy centres on Basil D’Oliveira, a 32-year-old South African-born naturalised Briton. “Unless the M.C.C. is to break Britain’s own laws against racial discrimination clearly it must cancel the South African tour,” Wooldridge said.

South Africa’s Minister of the Interior (Mr P. M. le Roux) repeated his country’s policy on Saturday with “black and white clarity.”

Earlier hopes that the South African Government might take a more liberal view of coloured sportsmen were dashed. Mr le Roux had said: “Our policy is clear. We will not aUow mixed teams to play against our white teams . If this player were chosen he would not be allowed to come here.” Wooldridge said D’Oliveira would merit selection in Brittain’s team next year unless his form fell—which was unlikely. South Africa was discriminating against D’Oliveira on the grounds of his colour. Worse, he was South African born, and the discrimination was a personal slight, Wooldridge said. D’Oliveira was one of the stars of the test series be-

tween England and the West Indies last year. He was born in Cape Town but took out British citizenship after playing for several seasons as a professional cricketer in England. The Johannesburg “Sunday Express” said: “The selection of D’Oliveira, if he retains his form, could precipitate a crisis between South African and English cricket authorities.”

Asked at his home about the South African statement, the secretary of the M.C.C., Mr B. Griffith, said: “We will cross this bridge when we come to it.”