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Salient. Victoria University Student Newspaper. [Volume 39, Number 2. 11th March 1976]

Apartheid Sport will Stay

Apartheid Sport will Stay

There it is in a nutshell. The two invitation sides are designed to allow international teams to visit. Nothing else. The French had said that if such a game was not arranged they would cancel their South African tour When it comes to tests, whites will represent South Africa. Apartheid sport will stay, and it will stay because the Government has decided so.

Reports in New Zealand newspapers have quoted the reactions of several South African Rugby personalities to the game against the mixed side. Dr Dannie Craven, Chairman of the whites-only South African Rugby Board, Mr Cuthbert Loriston, President of the coloureds-only South African Rugby Federation and the blacks only South African Rugby Board all well corned the match. This is hardly surprising, for all three rugby bodies are apartheid sports bodies; they accept apartheid sport and although from time to time they might criticise some aspect of the Governments sports policy, they have over the past decade done nothing to seriously challenge the whole apartheid sports structure.

Little mention has been made in the New Zealand press of a fourth South African rugby body - the non-racial South African Rugby Union. SARU is only one of many non-racial sports organisations in South Africa.

Although these non-racial sports bodies have large membership and outstanding sportsmen they are the subject of abuse, harassment, smears and cold-shoulder treatment. The Government harasses them; white and coloured apartheid sports bodies generally either ignore, try to ignore them, or if they can't do that, smear them; international sporting bodies until recently, have given them the cold shoulder, and the western press ignore or misrepresent them.

What are these non-racial sports bodies? How did they come into being? What do they want? Above all else, what have they got to do with us?