Apartheid State: Apartheid Society: Apartheid Laws: Opinion on Racist Sport in South AfricaSource: Africa Today, Vol. 17, No. 6, Racism in Sport (Nov. - Dec., 1970), p. 16Published by: Indiana University PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4185127 .

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izationis that are inspired by the same racial equality, should refrain from par- ticipating in the Games.9

From that point through April 24th when the I.O.C. withdrew the bid to South Africa by a vote of 41-13, a total of 32 nations banded to- gether in a threatened boycott of the Mexico Games if South Africa were permitted to partici- pate. The majority of the Socialist countries were ready to join themn if South Africa were not excluded.10 It would have been a sad October in Mexico City of the I.O.C. had not changed its original verdict and the Games had turned out to be all white.

The days of the high moral argument were over and the power politics of the Olympic Movement were in full swing by the end of the decade.

The Supreme Council for Sport in Africa met in March of 1970 in Cairo, the result being a list of charges against South Africa and a resolution demanding that South Africa be ex- pelled from the Olympic Movement entirely rather than merely suspended from individual Games. The African nations threatened to boy- cott the 1972 Munich Games if their demands were not met. The promise of support from other Third World nations and the Socialist Bloc was not unmeasured. The curtain was drawn by an I.O.C. vote of 35-28 to expel South Africa from the Olympic Movement."

To most observers, it seemed that the anti-

apartheid forces, led by the Supreme Council, had won a great victory. But it took Abraham Ordia, the Nigerian President of the Supreme Council, to place the victory in perspective:

It is nothing to be happy about. They are Africans: they are my brothers. I want to compete with them.... But for God's sake, let them change. If this were the medicine that will let them live, then this will not be in vain.12 Realistically, it would seem naively optimis-

tic to believe that Mr. Ordia's "medicine" may help internally in South Africa. There can be little doubt that it was necessary to remove the cancerous sore from the Olympic Movement. It can only be hoped that the action will have the desired effect in South Africa itself. Only time can tell.

FOOTNOTES 1. New York Times, May 7, 1936. 2. New York Times, October 5, 1936. 3. London Times, August 25, 1951. 4. Muriel Horrell, A Survey of Race Relations In South Africa,

1955-56, (Johannesburg: SA Institute of Race Relations, 1957), p. 227.

S. London Times, May 20, 1959. 6. London Times, May 8, 1967. 7. All figures from the official Olympic Directory, 1969, pub-

lished by the I.O.C. in Lausanne. 8. New York Times, February 16, 1968. 9. New York Times, February 25, 1968.

10. London Times, April 25, 1968. 11. Guardian, May 16, 1970. 12. London Times, May 16, 1970.

Apartheid State: Apartheid Society: Apartheid Laws: OPINION ON RACIST SPORT IN SOUTH AFRICA

The following are the results of a poll con- ducted by "DAGBREEK EN LANDSTEM" in June of this year. (This is an Afrikaans pro-government paper; its views reflect those of white South Af- ricans, particularly those who are pro-apartheid.) The report was headed: THIS QUESTION HAS DEEPLY DIVIDED OUR READERS and was sub- headed: Will the Youth Accept Sports-Isolation?

1. Are you troubled by the po.ssibility that South Africa may be totally isolated in sport? NO: 58.6 YES: 41.4 (percentages)

2. Do you think young people will accept it if South Africa can no longer compete overseas? NO: 48.3 YES: 51.7

3. Do you think that if sports isolation con- tinues for a long time, the pressure for non-racial sport will grow? YES: 55.5 NO: 44.5

4. Are you in favour of any kind of mixed sport in South Africa? NO: 90.3 YES: 9.7

5. Are you in favour of mixed trials for

selection of teams being held outside the borders of South Africa? NO: 66.8 YES: 33.2

6. Would you be opposed, to the inclusion of non-whites in teams to go overseas?

RUGBY: YES: 77.8 NO: 22.2 CRICKET: YES: 78.4 NO: 25.2 ATHLETICS: YES: 63.6 NO: 36.4 BOXING: YES: 61.9 NO: 38.1

7. Are you in favour of the administrators of the various South African sports getting to- gether to discuss the future of sport? YES: 81.7 NO: 18.3

8. Have you any objections to the composi- tion of the All-Black (New Zealand) rugby team? NO: 85.3 YES: 14.7

9. Was the Government right in forbidding the negro tennis player, Arthur Ashe, and the British coloured cricketer to visit our country? YES: 87.1 NO: 12.9

(The small percentage of "don't-knows" were excluded from the figures.)

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