EMBITTERMENT IN SOUTH AFRICA

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32306, 26 May 1970, Page 15

EMBITTERMENT IN SOUTH AFRICA

(N.Z.P.A -Reuter— Copi/rlghti JOHANNESBURG, May 25. South African sportsmen prepared today for a showdown with the Government, bitter in the knowledge that Britain’s cancellation of the South African cricket tour is a severe blow to the country’s fast-dwind-ling status in international sport. While much of South Africa’s disappointment over the tour cancellation has turned to scorn—heaped on the British Governmentsports officials are determined to discuss the whole future of South African sport with their Prime Minister (Mr Vorster) and his Government

But the chances of a change in the Government’s sports policies appear slim. The most outspoken reaction so far has come from the South African wicketkeeper, Dennis Gamsy, who has publicly appealed to the Government to appoint a com-

mission to investigate ways of introducing racially-mixed sport to South Africa. “The time has come for us to examine more closely the policies which make South Africa repugnant to the outside world," Mr Gamsy said. “In,my own mind there is no question but that we should have mixed sport here. It should not be impossible, even with the Government policy we have." Mr Gamsy's views are shared by the South African captain, Ali Bacher, who, on hearing the news that the tour was cancelled said: “Unless we broaden our outlook, we will remain for ever in isolation.” The one faint hope for South Africa’s external sporting ties—the inclusion of three Maoris and a Samoan in New Zealand's All Blacks Rugby team to tour South Africa this year—has gone

almost unnoticed because of the cricket tour controversy. The president of the South African Lawn Tennis Union, Mr Alfred Chalmers, plans to lead a delegation of sportsmen and officials to meet Mr Vorster. “We must formulate a pol-

icy which we think is best for South African sport, and ask Mr Vorster to take into account as representing the majority of people connected with sport,” he said. Meanwhile, South Africa's non-white majority has watched from the sidelines as the country slides further towards sporting isolation. Commenting yesterday on the tour cancellation, the Johannesburg Sunday newspaper, the “Post,” said: “It can only mean that white sport administrators must now get together and force the Government to take the great leap forward into the twentieth century, and to accept that multi-racial sport will not mean the social, moral and economic collapse of South Africa.

“By agreeing to multi-racial sport, much of the smell that is now associated with South African race policies would be deodorised.”