Chch man off ‘blacklist’
By KEN COATES in London Mr John H. Macdonald, one of the principal organisers of the World Veteran Games in Christchurch last year, has been removed from the United Nations’ so-called blacklist of sportsmen involved in sports contact with South Africa.
However, a request from the former New Zealand Cricket Council’s chairman, Mr Walter Hadlee, that his name be removed from the register has been rejected. The latest report of the United Nations Special Committee Against Apartheid has been released in London by the South African Non-Racial Olympic Committee. It shows that the decision
on Mr Macdonald came after New Zealand Government representations. The permanent representa-. five of New Zealand at the United Nations reminded the
committee that in its offer to be host to the fourth World Veteran Games, the organisers promised to abide by obligations under the Gleneagles Agreement, according
i to the special committee’s I report. ' r No invitation was extended to South African veterans J and entries from that coun- ’ try had been rejected.
The organising committee decided that legal citizenship and the passport held were the only criteria that could be applied. The special committee was told that Mr Macdonald had led opposition to a proposal in 1981 that a group of New Zealand veteran sportsmen should participate at a masters' athletic meeting in South Africa.
' Mr; Hadlee was placed on i the register in May last year when the .United Nations committee said he had been .•active in efforts to re-admit '.South Africa to'the International Cricket Conference. ;ivln a,letter to the'committee lie- denied that “he collaborated With apartheid in sport. , ... ' He recalled'that when in England in 1973 attending the .‘lnternational Cricket meeting, he 'urged: that cricket in South <;Africa should be integrated. He pledged support when that took place and selection, on merit was guaranteed to cricketers of all ethnic groups. The United Nations committee quoted Mr Hadlee as saying: “In my submission the sport of cricket has eliminated apartheid.” t He deplored racial discrimination in South Africa, but believed that integrated .sport could play a significant part in the breakdown of apartheid.
The United Nations committee goes on to contend that a newspaper report during Mr, ; .Hadlee’s visit to South Africa in 1980 “demonstrates his strong support for ■ the re-admission .of S.A.C.U. (South African Cricket Union) to the International Cricket Conference, and shows that he regards the Gleneagles Agreement of 1977 as shackling sport. “He suggested only modification of some laws to permit re-admission of South Africa in international sports bodies, rather than the total elimination of apartheid.” The special committee said it could not agree with the view of Mr Hadlee, a frequent visitor to South Africa, “and who praises cricket in South Africa as totally, non-racial, arid calls for an: end to boycott in cricket and other sports.” The committee said it recognised the past contribution of Mr Hadlee but “totally disagrees with his present approach. “Apartheid cannot be undermined by compromise or collaboration, but by total isolation.”
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Press, 2 March 1982, Page 1
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501Chch man off ‘blacklist’ Press, 2 March 1982, Page 1
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