HC Deb 13 November 1969 vol 791 cc140-1W
65. Mr. Hastings

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government whether he will furnish a list of those countries with which the Government have recommended to the bodies concerned that Great Britain should or should not engage in international sport for the benefit of those making these arrangements; and by what authority such recommendations are made.

Mr. Denis Howell

In general, the Government do not recommend to sports bodies the countries which they should or should not meet in competition.

The Government leave it to the bodies concerned to decide their programme of international matches, though in the case of Rhodesia and certain Warsaw Pact countries in the period immediately following the invasion of Czechoslovakia sports bodies contemplating matches with these countries have had their attention called to special considerations which we believed ought to have been taken into account.