Sports contacts with S.A. defended

Press, 9 August 1976, Page 1

Sports contacts with S.A. defended

PA Wanganui Sports figures and others who talk about New Zealand’s sports contacts with South Africa should not do so unless they have been there and are competent to express their views, according to Siegfried Bauer, the long-distance runner. Bauer, who has twice

run between Wellington and Auckland, said from his home at Raetihi last evening that many persons who "sounded off" against sports ties with South Africa had no real knowledge of conditions there.

“Those who have been to South Africa know it compares favourably with the rest of the world — those who have not been cannot speak for the rest of New Zealand," he said. Bauer was in South Africa for 10 weeks last year, and won a 1000-mile race from Pretoria to Cape Town, in which he had been invited to compete. He had run as a New Zealand individual, and not representing any country, but was proud to have competed in South Africa, he said. He knew of several invitations to compete in South Africa which had been declined by New Zealand sportsmen because, he suspected, of pressure from anti-South African groups. Bauer also criticised Church groups in New Zealand which, he said, were trying to apply pressure against sports contacts. “Some of their own members come back from South Africa and tell them that it is not an evil country, but they are told they have been brainwashed,” Bauer said.

The people in South Africa were reasonable. Thev admitted they had problems. A lot of other countries “pointed the finger” at them but were

not prepared to admit they had problems of their own Having spent 20 days in the Belgian Congo before it achieved independence, Bauer said that conditions in some black African countries were much worse than in South Africa. "A lot of people suffer under dictatorsnip and much less freedom than they would get in South Africa,” he said. Asked his views on how pressure fr m other sportsminded nations should be met, Bauer said he felt it should be a challenge to New Zealand sport to face this and "show we are a country that does not have to give in to pressure. “We should show we can piay sport with whoever we want, not just with whoever we are told to play with," he said A recent comparison of South Africa with Nazi Germany, made by the television interviewer, Dr Brian Edwards, was “in bad taste and a bad argument,” according to Ba uer, himself German-bom. “That is a sign of weakness and shows he has no proper point of argument," he said. Another point made by Bauer was that New Zealand sportsmen could learn much from their South African counterparts. “I would like to compete against their athletes over here if they could come,” he said. South Africa was a country with a strong sports history, especially in running.