South Africa Relaxes Apartheid In Sport

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31343, 13 April 1967, Page 1

South Africa Relaxes Apartheid In Sport

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter— Copvriffht; CAPE TOWN, April 12. The South African Prime Minister (Mr John Vorster) announced today that sports teams which include non-whites were to be allowed into South Africa. Hitherto there have been iron rules against racially* mixed international sport.

He told Parliament that white South African teams would henceforth be allowed to play against non-white teams in international competitions such as the Davis Cup, even in South Africa, where racially-mixed sports have been traditionally banned.

In a statement interpreted as a radical change in policy, Mr Vorster said: “If it should happen that South Africa has to compete in the finals against a coloured country (in the Davis Cup), then we shall do so, whether it be here in South Africa or in any other country.”

Mr Vorster slackened the rules in a statement after the Opposition Leader, Sir De Villiers Graaff, asked him to clarify recent conflicting reports on South Africa’s policy towards mixed sport. He said that so far as cricket or Rugby teams were concerned. South Africa would not tell selectors whom they should choose. This was taken to mean that Mr Vorster was opening the door to such international sporting figures as Basil D’Oliveira, the South Africaborn coloured (mixed race) England test cricketer, and the Maori Rugby players of New Zealand. Before this announcement,

both D’OUveira and Maoris were banned. Mr Vorster appealed to newspapers to treat the subject of South Africa’s sporting relations “with the greatest circumspection” and to the Opposition not to “drag it into politics.” It was “a delicate matter which, if not carefully handled could do South Africa irreparable harm," be said. The Prime Minister then turned to Rugby relations and claimed that South Africa had never tried to dictate to countries with which she had traditional ties whom they should select for their tours to South Africa. It did not intend to do so now and would leave the matter to the sound judgment of the sports administrators in the countries concerned. Rugby Relations Mr Vorster said the matter 1 bad gone wrong because sports writers, newspapers and others had not seen the matter correctly in terms of principle and in Its historical perspective. South Africa had always had Rugby relations with certain countries, just as she had cricket relations with certain countries and not with others, such as India, Pakistan and the West Indies.

“Our attitude is that where we did not have sports ties in the past, it is not necessary to start them now. “So where these sports are concerned, my standpoint is that we have enough ties and that we must retain the traditional ties where possible. “We have Rugby ties with England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, France, Australia and , New Zealand. Later there ’ came links with the Argentine and at one stage with Kenya, * but the latter has fallen away • for obvious reasons. ’ Not With Maoris

“Where New Zealand was concerned, it was wrong to drag the Maori question into

the matter at all, because we did not have any sports ties with the Maoris as such. “The New Zealanders themselves drew a distinction between the Maoris and the fair-skinned people. “The first touring team ever to leave New Zealand in 1898 was a Maori team. “Later, in 1924, an All Black team went to Britain, followed in 1926 by a Maori team. In 1948 a Maori team went to the Fiji Islands, in 1949 to Australia and in 1954 again to Fiji. In turn teams from those countries came to play against the Maoris. "It is true that the whites of South Africa, as organised in the South African Rugby Board, have traditional Rugby relations with, among others, the New Zealanders. “It is true that in the 1929 (New Zealand) team which toured South Africa, there were at least two people with Maori blood, while in the 1949 team there were at least

three and in the 1960 team also at least three with Maori blood. “The New Zealanders see the matter in a different light to us and I have no argument with them. It is their affair. “We accepted those people and treated them like any member of the New Zealand touring team. There were no problems or incidents,” Mr Vorster said. He continued: “We have traditional ties with the All Blacks and we do not want to prescribe to them, and have never done so ... traditionally we have never prescribed to them who they may select and who not

"It was left to the good judgment of the Rugby administrators in New Zealand —and that is what I want to do. “But I want to put it very clearly now: if politicians interfere in the matter with the object of upsetting relations between our countries or to drag sport into politics ... or to cause trouble between people in South Africa, then I will not hesitate to act as my predecessor did at Loskop dam.” (It was at Loskop dam that Dr. Verwoerd made his famous “no Maoris” speech.) He told Parliament that Inside South Africa raciallymixed sports would continue to be prohibited, irrespective of the proficiency of the contenders. Opposition members interpreted the statement as a radical change of policy. Generally, it was agreed that it represented a bid to get South Africa readmitted to the Olympic Games.