S.A. rewards its friend

Press, 8 July 1976, Page 1

S.A. rewards its friend

PA Wellington The man who provided transport for South African softballers during the world softball championships in January has been rewarded with an all-expenses-paid holiday in South Africa. Mr Allen Murrell defied a union boycott on driving the South Africans during the tournament. On July 22 he will fly out of Wellington for a fourweek holiday in South Africa following the All Blacks. Mr Murrell said yesterday that the trip “came out of the blue. “I am still walking on cloud nine,” the Petone motor-vehicle dealer said. Mr Murrell’s trip is paid for by the Committee for Fairness in Sport, which favours foreign sporting teams’ visiting South Africa. Mr Murrell says he is going to South Africa with an open mind. “I would like to see both sides of South Africa and form my own opinion,” he said. “My attitude at the time (of the softball championships) was that these guys had been invited here to play sport. “The only way we are going to overcome the problem is to have sporting contacts with South Africa. “I don't think there should be segregation, but there is a reason for it — and I am going to find out what it is,” Mr Murrell said. “I am going as a New Zealander with an open mind, and when I come back I hope to make other New Zealanders understand the situation.” Mr Murrell said much of the criticism aimed at South Africa was the product of bogus publicity. He

thought many protesters were ill-informed. "They know as much about it as I do, but 1 am now in a position to do something about it,” he said. Mr Murrell, who is chairman of the Petone Rugby League Club, will reach South Africa two days before the first test at Durban on July 24. He will also see the second test at Bloemfontein on August 14, but the rest of his time will be spent "looking at South Africa the way the normal tourist does not see it." Mr Murrell said he was looking forward to meeting members of the South African Softball Association and the South African Softball team with whom he became friends in January.