HC Deb 10 June 1981 vol 6 cc401-2
18. Mr. John Carlisle

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he will meet the chairman of the Sports Council to discuss international sporting contacts.

The Under-Secretary of State for the Environment (Mr. Hector Monro)

I have frequent and regular contact with the chairman of the Sports Council and will be seeing him again shortly.

Mr. Carlisle

When my hon. Friend next meets the chairman of the Sports Council, will he encourage him to discuss soccer hooliganism with his international counterparts? Will he also encourage him to initiate an international conference whereby methods can be considered that will prevent those disgraceful scenes in Basle which brought great shame to all Englishmen abroad?

Mr. Monro

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for his idea. I will talk to Dick Jeeps about that when I see him next. The relatively few spectators who behaved so disgracefully in Switzerland deserve our utter condemnation. They let this country down. At least, things were better in Hungary and I am glad to say that England won the match.

Mr. Denis Howell

When the Minister next meets the chairman of the Sports council, will he draw his attention to the fact that it is not in the interests of British sport for the chairman to be acting as campaign manager for South African sporting interests? Will he also tell him that such action is seriously jeopardising the future of the Commonwealth Games and will create the maximum embarrassment for the Prime Minister at the forthcoming Prime Minister's Conference, when the Gleneagles agreement is bound to be discussed? Finally, will he tell the chairman that South Africa must convince world sport that it can be re-entered, because it was world sport and not politicians that put South Africa out of international sport?

Mr. Monro

I hear what the right hon. Gentleman says. I have absolute confidence in the chairman of the Sports Council. I think that the right hon. Gentleman is overplaying his hand about Dick Jeeps' interest in South Africa. I take the point he has made that it is world sport that banned South Africa from international competition. The first steps back might come from the International Athletic Federation or FIFA, but overall, of course, we are concerned about the Commonwealth Games in Australia next year. We must watch all these matters very carefully.

Mr. Kenneth Lewis

When my hon. Friend is talking to the Sports Council chairman, will he ask him to try to persuade football clubs, when they take supporters abroad, to accept direct responsibility for supervising those groups of supporters? Does he agree that the directors and managers of the club should send their people to ensure that the supporters behave in an orderly fashion?

Mr. Monro

I note what my hon. Friend says. Stemming from the decisions made by the right hon. Member for Birmingham, Small Heath (Mr. Howell), UEFA has strict regulations laid down about the playing of cup matches in Europe. It is a sad fact that UEFA and FIFA have not fulfilled the regulations on segregation of spectators and the distribution of tickets. If those regulations were carried out, that might reduce the problems faced by spectators going to the Continent.