Olympic boycott threatened
NZPA Hartford, Connecticut
Fifty-one nations have threatened to boycott the 1984 Olympic Games at Los Angeles if the Springboks play in the United States later this month, according to the executive director of the United States Olympic Committee, Mr Donald Miller.
He said that he had been told by the International Olympic Committee that the boycott, mainly by black African .nations, would be similar to the American-led boycott of the 1980 Games in Moscow, which had been in Erotest against- the Soviet'te Inion’s invasion of Afghanistan. ?• He, said, “it appears that ? the black African nations are pressing their point of view more forcefully than they have up to this time. We feel this tour is counterproductive to the 1984' Games at Los Angeles.” The boycott threat follows last week’s announcement by the United States Administration that it would not take sides in the South African dispute in spite of its opposition to that country’s apartheid policies.-; A United States State Department spokesman said that the granting of visas to the Springboks was consistent with the Administration’s new stance on South Africa but should not be associated with that policy. . The Springboks are scheduled to play three matches in the United States between September 19 and 26: in Chicago, Albany, and Rochester. The Mayor of Los Angeles, Mr Tom Bradley; has said that the State Department should withhold visas from the Springboks. The Rochester match, between the Springboks and the American national rugby
team, the Eagles, will be held in private at a secret venue, because of fears of violence. The match had already been moved from New York City, where the mayor, Mr Edward Roch, had refused permission for municipal stadiums to be used, on the advice of his police chief.
The Rochester Flash soccer club, which had signed a contract with the Eastern Rugby Union to hold the match at the city’s Holleder Stadium on September 26, said that it had rescinded,, the, contract be-, cause of concern about safety. '■■■■
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Press, 7 September 1981, Page 6
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334Olympic boycott threatened Press, 7 September 1981, Page 6
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