RHODESIA (SPORTS TEAMS) (Hansard, 20 May 1976)

§ Mr. RIPPON
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment whether it was by his authority that the Minister of Sport banned Rhodesian holders of British passports from entering the United Kingdom to play cricket; under what power the ban was imposed; and if he will make a statement.

§ Mr. URWIN
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many Rhodesian sports teams have toured the United Kingdom since UDI; how many have sought to do so; and what Government action has been taken to prevent such tours, and with what results.

§ Mr. Speaker
Mr. Denis Howell, to answer Written Questions Nos. 118 and 133.

§ The Minister of State for Sport and Recreation (Mr. Denis Howell)
Successive Governments have made it quite clear to the Sports Council that following the decisions of the British Parliament to declare the Rhodesian UDI to be illegal, and the international support for this stand both at the United Nations and by international sporting bodies such as the International Olympic Committee and FIFA, it would be quite incompatible with these decisions to allow normal sporting encounters to take place with Rhodesia.
In furtherance of this policy, the previous Administration intervened on several occasions to stop visits by sporting teams to and from Rhodesia. In 1971 they stopped the entry into this country of two Rhodesians—including an African—for the World Ploughing Contest, and in the same year they intervened to secure the withdrawal of a Rhodesian team from the Admirals' Cup. The right hon. Member for Sidcup (Mr. Heath) did well in spite of that.
In 1972, following similar intervention, a Rhodesian team withdrew from the World Bowls Championship, and a proposed visit by a British hockey team to Rhodesia was cancelled. In May 1973 the Womens Squash Rackets Association, after consultation with the then Government, cancelled a proposed visit to 1712 Rhodesia by a British team, and in February 1974, after similar consultation, the Amateur Basketball Association decided not to send a team to Rhodesia.
So far as is known, two teams, one of hockey players and one of cricket players, have toured this country during the last two years, but on both occasions neither the Government nor the governing bodies of the sport concerned were consulted, and only learned of these tours after those teams had returned home.
The powers under which the Government can act are contained in the Southern Rhodesia (Immigration Act 1971) Order 1972.

§ Mr. Urwin
I thank my right hon. Friend for the information which he has given to the House on this very important subject. I am sure that it can bring no joy to the right hon. and learned Member for Hexham (Mr. Rippon), who surely had ministerial responsibility for at least some part of the time to which my right hon. Friend has referred.
Will my right hon. Friend accept that there are many people, certainly on the Government side of the House, who have no quarrel with sanctions imposed in sporting activities? Indeed, I go so far as to say that this policy would be wholly compatible with the trade embargoes operated since UDI. My right hon. Friend has referred—

§ Mr. Speaker
Order. The Minister did not make a statement. He answered a Question. I hope that the hon. Gentleman will ask a question.

§ Mr. Rippon
On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. Is it not normal for a Minister who is to answer a Written Question to give notice to the hon. Member who put it down?

§ Mr. Howell
Further to that point of order, Mr. Speaker. My office got in touch with the office of the right hon. and learned Gentleman at about 17 o'clock, and I was informed that he would be told that I was seeking to answer these Questions at 3.30 p.m.

§ Mr. Speaker
Order. We are getting very untidy. An hon. Member is asking a question.

§ Mr. Urwin
Will my right hon. Friend say something more in regard to the latter part of his Answer, in which he referred to two teams which had come to this country without the knowledge of the Government? Will he say something about those tours, which appear to have been surreptitiously organised, and indicate what information he received about the Ridgeback's tour?

§ Mr. Howell
It is quite true, as my right hon. Friend has said, that following the previous practice of Labour and Conservative Governments to write to governing bodies and say that such tours are inadvisable, there seems to have been a change of practice, in that governing bodies are not now being consulted. That is how these teams have got into this country without knowledge.
We were aware of the Ridgebacks' tour because the Rhodesia Herald of 29th April carried a statement which made it clear that there had been a public appeal in Rhodesia for funds to send the team here and that eight members of the side had played for the Rhodesian national team. I made it clear last week that they would not be allowed to play in this country, whatever pseudonym they used.

§ Mr. Monro
Is it not right that decisions on touring teams should be resolved by the responsible national bodies and not by the last-minute intervention of the Minister of State for Sport and Recreation? Would the Minister not agree that this tour of club cricketers, who can come here as individuals, has been blown up out of all proportion by the Minister's action during the last week? Would he give his interpretation of these powers under the 1968 and 1972 legislation in relation to sport?

§ Mr. Howell
I think it very odd that, in the seven days in which I have been lambasted by the Press and the Opposition, not one word has come from any official spokesman of the Opposition, bearing in mind that they acted similarly on six occasions. On this occasion we acted at the last minute because it was the first we had heard of the matter. Had we known earlier, we would have acted as the Conservative 1714 Government acted. The only case in which powers have been used to prevent someone from entering was when an African was coming here for the World Ploughing Contest.

§ Mr. Grimond
Is the Minister aware that many people in this House, to whom it is not sufficient excuse for Government action that the Conservative Party committed some ludicrous folly first—they would no doubt have received a Russian cricket team with acclamation if the Russians were foolish enough to play cricket—believe that it is time we dropped this attitude and accepted that people who want to come here to play games may not be very important and should be allowed to come?

§ Mr. Howell
That is an understandable point of view and may be valid, but it is not a point of view previously advanced by the Liberal Benches in this House, or in another place, when the Conservative Government defended their decision over ploughmen. The fact is that Parliament and the courts have declared this regime to be illegal and Parliament has imposed severe penalties on business men who trade with Rhodesia. It is surely ludicrous at the same time to play games with Rhodesia.

§ Mr. Faulds
Does my right hon. Friend not agree that there is nothing very sporting about racial discrimination and the consequent human—[HON. MEMBERS: "Take one!"] I usually have my words well. Does the Minister not agree that there is nothing sporting about racial discrimination and the consequent human deprivation? Would it not be advisable for some of the permanently immature schoolboys opposite to go back to their peculiar schools in order to relearn the whole ethos of cricket?

§ Mr. Howell
I agree with my hon. Friend that the only judgment of a sportsman should be on merits and not on grounds of racial origin. I must say in fairness to Rhodesia that they have sports organised on a multi-racial basis. Therefore, the case should not be confused with South Africa. The case against Rhodesia involves the illegality of its regime. If people persist in living an illegal existence, they cannot expect the normal social niceties of life to be made available to them.

§ Mr. Hastings
Will the Minister recognise that this decision and the action to which he has referred are typical of the spite manifested for so long by the Foreign Office department responsible for relations with Rhodesia, as many of us who have tried to follow this matter are so tragically aware? What kind of contribution will this demeaning and petty decision make towards eventual agreement with Rhodesia?

§ Mr. Howell
I do not believe that Conservative Ministers who took the decisions in earlier years on this matter were spiteful or mean in any degree. It is a little sad that no Conservative Member raised these subjects at that time. All that has happened is that my Conservative predecessors were more effective than I in catching people coming into this country, but, having caught them, I have been more honest than they were in letting people know about it.