Britain Refuses Cricketer Entry

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31762, 20 August 1968, Page 13

Britain Refuses Cricketer Entry

(N.Z P.A.-Reuter —Copyright) LONDON, August 19. The Rhodesian-born test cricketer, C. Bland, was sent back to South Africa today after he had tried to enter Britain to play for the Rest of the World XI.

Bland, who is 30, was refused entry by immigration officials in accordance with the British Government's order supporting United Nations sanctions. The action has been received in Rhodesia with incredulity. “It baffles me—l just don’t know what the situation is coming to,” the Rhodesian Cricket Union president (Mr

Tom Alkden) said in Bulawayo. When Bland arrived at London Airport at 1 am. immigration officials told him he could not enter Britain on his Rhodesian passport: but he was allowed to leave the airport to spend the remainder of the night at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in Central London. The officials impounded iris passport.

Bland returned to the airport late this afternoon to board a South African Airways flight to Johannesburg. “I am bitterly disappointed,” he said. Asked what he thought of the ban on his entry, he shrugged his shoulders and replied: “It’s just one of those things.” He said he had known of the British Government’s attitude towards Rhodesian passports, but did not know it applied to individuals. Bland said the sponsors of the team were keeping his place open in the hope he could get back in time. He said he would try to arrange “some other travel documents” in Johannesburg tomorrow morning in an attempt to get back by Wednesday. A Home Office spokesman said: “Mr Bland was advised by the High Commission before leaving Salisbury that his passport would not entitle him to admission to the United Kingdom. His passport will be returned to him in Salisbury.”