CIIR protest at rugby tour of South Africa

By a Staff Reporter It was decided at a meeting of the executive committee of the Catholic Institute for International Relations to send a letter of protest against the proposed tour of South Africa and Rhodesia by the British Lions rugby team to Mr A. Agar, secretary of the Four Home Unions Tour Committee, the organisers.
Mildred Nevife, the CIIR general secretary, said last week: "We realise, of course, that whatever is done at this late stage the tour will still go ahead, but we believe that we should nevertheless make clear where the CIIR stands on this issue,"
The full text of the letter is as follows:
Dear Mr Agar —The proposed tour of South Africa and Rhodesia by the British Lions is a matter of puhlic concern. The issue is a simple one: it is a question of racialism versus nonracialism.
White South Africans have a passion for sport and a desire
for their sporting prowess to be recognised internationally. At the same time, however, South Africa refused to allow multiracial scums to represent the Republic.
Sports suffer from the same apartheid restrictions as the rest of South African society, and the fact that the Lions are playing black and coloured teams, also selected on a racial basis, does nothing to detract from the intrinsic injustice of the situation. Sport is not and cannot be considered to be outside politics.
The sports boycott, which has world-wide support in most major sports, is a peaceful and effective way of bringing home to the people of South Africa the fact that the policy of apartheid is contrary to the principles of justice..
Furthermore, the sports boycott has already provoked a shift in attitudes on the part of many South African sportsmen who are now pressurising the South African Government for multi-racial sport On behalf of the Catholic Institute for International Relations, whose membership includes a wide cross-section of the Catholic community in this country. we call upon the Rugby Football Unions of England, Scotland. Wales and Ireland to cancel the proposed tour and refuse to send any teams until South African sport is organised on a multi-racial basis.