’Big trouble’ forecast for Maoris’ South African tour

Press, 17 September 1976, Page 24

’Big trouble’ forecast for Maoris’ South African tour

From T. P. McLEAN

Johannesburg

An urgent plea that the New Zealand Maori rugby team should not tour South Africa next year has been made by the president of the South African Rugby Union, Mr Abdul Abass, a Coloured man of substance whose union controls the activities of 22,000 senior players spread among 21 unions.

“Please don’t let the Maoris come,” Mr Abass said. “If they do come I fear there will be big trouble.” hurt in rioting. The nonwhites of South Africa wouldn't do anything against the present All Black team but bringing a black side to South Africa could upset them verv much. You see it was South Africa which all along prevented Maoris from coming to South Africa. into our country to play against whites. But at the same time white South Africans don’t want blacks in their teams to ylay against the All Blacks. “Admittedly this All Black team has played the Proteas. Leopards and a South African invitation team which included four nonwhites. But that last match was purely a sop. “We don’t want anything of that kind — we reject it completely.” Mr Abass’ rugby union

j I has steadfastly refused to . affiliate with the white | J t South African Rugby Board j 1 ! and has cut itself off from I • the South African Rugby Federation, which controls some Coloured rugby and : which fields the Proteas - i team and from the African j Rugby Board, which fields : the Leopards and controls 1 some African rugby. 1 S.A.R.U., a defiantly nonJ racial body, claims membert ship of both Africans and t; Coloureds greater than the 1! combined strength of the I Proteas and Leopards organisations. In terms of the 1 non-racial policies of his •’I union, of which he’s been -i secretary and later president 1 ever since 1944, Mr Abass 5 : considers that the visit of a ■ • multi-racial team like the I All Blacks achieves nothing! 5 for non-white sport in South ■ ■Africa. 1 “Multi-racial sport in my| 1 country has never been ad-| - vanced by the visit of any, 1 team," Mr Abass said. “The only people who benefit ? from such a tour as the All t Blacks are the whites of South Africa. For example, 1 Park has been given

over by the Johannesburg City Council, a whites bod'., to the Transvaal Rugby Union, a whites body, and to be rebuilt at a cost of more than ten million rands. “Yet we non-whites — or as we are now generally grouped, we blacks — can never achieve anything like a third grade ground of any vhite school. None of our clubs has a ground we can boast of.

“All money from this tour !is being utilised by whites. It’s white supremacy. We’ve achieved a lot with the coineration of the British Isles in their decision not to send another team and with the French Government in its direction that only a nonracial South African team will be acceptable for the tour of France.

i “We reject entirely the I idea of multinational teams. I Isolation is the only way we I are going to get progress. I “New Zealand would greatly help the cause of non-white sport if it refused to have any association with South Africa other than with teams selected entirely on merit.”