“Growing” Move Against Games

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32020, 21 June 1969, Page 14

“Growing” Move Against Games

Growing support for the Scrub The Games Committee was most oncouraging, said the committee’s chairman, Mr A. N. Clifford, of Christchurch, yesterday. The committee has been formed to oppose the plan to hold the 1974 Commonwealth Games in Christchurch.

Mt Clifford, a retired civil servant, said the committee would petition the City Council to refuse any financial support for the games. “We have distributed about 50,000 leaflets In Christchurch and suburbs—-we have covered the whole area although we did not have enough leaflets to put In every householder’s letterbox,” Mr Clifford said. The leaflet is addressed to “Fellow Citizens" and says that ratepayers of Christchurch are “in great danger of being taken for a ride.” “A group of people In our city are striving for the 1974 Commonwealth Games to be held in Christchurch. Please help to put a stop to this nonsense before it is too l«e” _____

The leaflet says that the “would-be organisers” claim that because Edinburgh reckons on making a profit on holding the Commonwealth Games there next year, so can Christchurch. 200 m People “Edinburgh is in ah erea where there are some 200 m people mostly Europeans with money to spend. Christchurch can count only a few thousand, a mere fraction of those available to Edinburgh. “It is admitted that there will be gains, in the form of a number of superior-type sports facilities, but in most cases these facilities will become white elephants, as hu happened in Perth.” The leaflet also objects to the Commonwealth Games being held In Christchurch because of “political implications—far and away the most Important aspect."

“Rulers of African-ruled countries are only interested in the games as means whereby they can exert some form of political blackmail.” The political blackmail would take the following form, the leaflet says: “Stop

trading with South Africa or we won’t come.” “No South Africa Rugby team to New Zealand or you can count us out.” “Withdraw your tropps from South Vietnam (or the next equivalent) or we boycott the games.”