Boycott nations to face bill of $5 million

Press, 23 July 1986, Page 3

Boycott nations to face bill of $5 million

By

ROD DEW

in Edinburgh Accounts for a total of £2 million ($5.4M) will be sent to the 27 countries that have withdrawn from the Commonwealth Games. The bill will be divided among the countries on a pro rata basis, depending on numbers entered by them. “You have .got to hit them in the pocket,” the chairman of the Games company, Mr Robert Max-

well, told a packed press conference at the Meadowbank centre yesterday. Computers were already working out what each boycotting country would be asked to pay, he said. "The Governments of the boycotting countries chose to mix politics with sport and it is only right that they should pay. They have caused us a great deal of trouble, and a great deal of loss. I don’t think that the coun-

tries which have boycotted the Games would have done so if they had taken legal advice first,” Mr Maxwell said. “These people have caused us damage, and they should pay for it. I am quite serious about this. I am the man in charge of the Games company, and I am sending them the bill.” Questioned about the ability of the boycotting countries to pay, Mr Maxwell said that they had been taking action against Mrs Thatcher and should be quite happy about paying a cancellation fee to compensate the Games for their actions. The total bill was "roughly equivalent” to the losses caused by the boycott. However, Mr Maxwell refused to admit that the Games were heading for a £2 million loss. Some sponsors who had been in the negotiating stage had lost interest as a result of the boycott, but the Games company at present had £1 million in the bank. The suggestion by a journalist that Mrs Thatcher was at least partly responsible for the boycott prompted Mr Maxwell to confirm that if there was a shortfall in the finances "quite clearly the Government can ex-

pect a bill.” Mr Maxwell said Mrs Thatcher was “a tough lady” but he could be tough, too, when the need arose. Three more teams —j the Seychelles, Sri Lanka, and Cyprus — joined the boycott yesterday, bringing the total to 27. The maximum number of countries expected at the Games is now 31, a substantial reduction on previous Games although the total number of athletes is still a very respectable 2235. The organisers assert that this is greater than the numbers attending the Commonwealth Games in Brisbane four years ago. Nearly 1700 competitors and officials representing 28 countries have settled into the Games village so far. Ticket sales do not appear to have been greatly affected by the boycott. Mr Maxwell said yesterday that the Games were a sell-out but later modified this to a 95 per cent sell-out. “Scottish people are very keen for the Games to succeed,” he said. “The Games will go on. They will be successful,” he said after asking journalists to start concentrating on the positive aspects of the Games.