British commonwealth games 1970

However, history has been quick to forget the diplomatic threats posed to this event, instead focusing on parallel and interconnected events within England regarding the invitation of the Marylebone Cricket Club MCC to the South African national squad. The threatened boycotts almost led to the cancellation of the Commonwealth event, and we will argue can be used to expose the internal political divisions within Scottish and British societies on issues of racism, decolonization, and nationalisms.

Little has been written about Scottish sport within a paradiplomatic context — unlike for example, Catalonia and the Basque Country. Essentially they all represented very different perspectives on Scottish identity and politics, therefore making paradiplomatic overtures less coherent than would be the case in the future, once the process of Scottish devolution was initiated in the late s.

However, as we will show, things were rarely straightforward, with NGBs sometimes exploiting their relationship with government to different, often opposing ends. The Commonwealth Games are perhaps unique in their formation; based as they are on historical links rather than simple geographical location. Each of the participating countries has been subsumed within the British Empire at some point in their history. The Commonwealth exists largely because its member countries share one common experience, that of the Empire and the way in which it shaped the cultural heritage of each of these nations.

Attempts were made to strengthen the bonds between nations; one such attempt was the Festival of Empire, a series of events organized to celebrate the coronation of George V. At this first meeting there were only four sports; track and field, boxing, swimming and wrestling. Canada won, having achieved the most gold medals. They lobbied sport organizations, managers and colonial representatives.

Their idea was met with a warm reception from most members of the Empire, but notably support from Britain itself was less than enthusiastic. However, despite these initial reservations the first British Empire Games was held in Hamilton, Canada on August , Broader context of Scotland, South Africa, Rhodesia, and sport in the s and s.

The events of the Commonwealth Games cannot and should not be viewed within a vacuum. Post-War South Africa introduced a complicated system of racial segregation. Apartheid was a policy which, through the Population Registration Act, ensured only white South Africans could hold the reins of power; this included white-only participation in elite sport.

The Rhodesian crisis came about as a result of the minority white government of Southern Rhodesia unilaterally declaring its independence from the UK in , ostensibly to prevent a timetable for majority rule from being introduced.

National governing bodies of sport NGBs played an important if often behind-the-scenes in sporting diplomacy during this period. The British government informally negotiated with British sporting bodies who had contacts with Rhodesia and SA?

As Little states, elements of British public opinion were not unsympathetic to Rhodesia. Kilmarnock Football Club are off to Rhodesia. They will play eight games out there. They are quite right to go in spite of enthusiasm from Whitehall.

Rhodesians will have a chance to see a first-class Scottish club in action. And the presence of these sporting ambassadors will show the vindictive attitude of the British Government towards Rhodesia is certainly not shared by very many people — particularly in Scotland.

At the time, the white-only National Football League of South Africa heavily recruited second-tier European footballers to play in its leagues, and this included many Scots, some of whom answered advertisements in local newspapers. Publicly, the Government took a hard line, but behind the scenes, as the case with Kilmarnock FC highlights, they were more measured in their approach, preferring a process of negotiating through a third party.

The SFA have already told us that they have no power to order a club to abandon a visit, so I suggest we await something more definite — by which time of course it may be too late for changing plans.

Similarly, throughout the lates to the mids, the Government entered into informal discussions with key actors, primarily NGBs to ensure that no sports teams would travel to or host events with Rhodesia or South Africa. These discussions covered a wide range of sports. For example, with England and Wales having been invited to play hockey in Rhodesia in , there were growing concerns that Scotland would receive a similar invite.

Behind the scenes, ministers worked hard to ensure that Scottish Hockey would reject any such invitation if it was forthcoming. Scottish and Welsh Sports Council policy during the Heath years was noted roughly as thus:.

Rhodesia: Teams should be discouraged from visiting Rhodesia but cannot be prevented. No assistance of any kind should be given by the Sports Councils. Howell, on playing sport against South Africa, stated:. This is the most delicate area of all. About one thing I am adamant — no one is going to use money from British Government grants in any way at all to go and play sports against countries which recognise apartheid.

On the other hand we cannot interfere with individual rights when other issues, for example the Commonwealth Games, are not threatened. In Scotland and Wales, this was achieved by introducing stringent criteria for funding by government-sponsored sports councils. Under these new criteria, NGBs were no longer able to apply for money to tour either country, or host teams from them. Even sports such as sea angling were denied government support: in September , the Scottish Federation of Sea Anglers placed an application with the Scottish Sports Council for funding to attend an international competition being held in Durban in February Despite the Council finding in favor of the application, funding was denied by the intervention of Secretary of State for Scotland Gordon Campbell.

South African golfer Gary Player was a regular attendee of matches in Scotland during the period. Other individuals such as footballer Gordon Smith and jockey Willie Carson also went to South Africa in pursuit of sporting opportunities, in spite of stronger, more popular opposition to apartheid within Scotland.

This case happened as concerns about boycotts to the Commonwealth Games reached their peak, and may in part explain the reaction to her participation, or lack thereof. They say they fear disturbances by demonstrators on the course when the championship is played at Gullane, East Lothian, if South African Sally Little, 18, takes part.

Instead, the golfing ladies have been foolish before the event — primly imagining a pitched battle on the Gullane beaches because a girl whose views on apartheid are not even known wants to play a game. Scotland has never segregated its athletes and will welcome Gary Player for the Open Championship at St. To say Scots would demonstrate at Gullane against a pretty little girl who happens to have been born in South Africa disregards Scots commonsense.

The context of the Commonwealth Games, then, highlighted the somewhat unique position Scotland was in with regard both the anti-apartheid movement, as well as its existence as a polity outside of the United Kingdom. Despite government attempts to mediate sporting interactions between Scotland and South Africa and Rhodesia, these were not always successful. As we have seen the actions surrounding the Commonwealth and the MCC were part of a much larger sustained campaign against sporting contacts with South Africa.

The Olympics in Montreal were boycotted by African nations over the participation of New Zealand, who had recently invited the South African national rugby union squad. The British Commonwealth Games took place against the background of a British general election campaign, with Labour leader and Prime Minister Harold Wilson sensing an opportunity to solidify his majority.

However, this did not go according to plan, with the election of a majority Conservative government led by Edward Heath. Scottish politics, too, had become more complex during this period, with the Hamilton by-election victory of Winifred Ewing in , marking her as the first sitting MP for the pro-independence Scottish National Party SNP. The party had been galvanized by the recent discovery of North Sea oil, linking it to an ability to finance an independent Scottish state.

The SNP, however, would gain a major breakthrough in the two general elections of , when they returned 11 MPs, and the period in the UK would see the country governed by a vulnerable Labour government. This growing disquiet began to manifest itself in many ways, including the banning of international tours of South African teams by certain countries, attempts to block South African participation in international sporting events such as the Olympics and concerted efforts to stop national teams from touring in South Africa.

Most popular amongst these approaches was the sports boycott. The Tokyo Olympics arguably marked one of the early successful attempts to use the threat of a boycott. It was at this point South Africa was expelled altogether from the Olympic movement, becoming the first country to have been handed such a punishment. Sanctions against South Africa were becoming commonplace in many sports during this period, especially within cricket.

At first, both the Edinburgh organizing committee and the Commonwealth Games Federation projected a bullish image with regard to the threatened boycott. The chairman of the organizing committee, Sir Herbert Brechin stated:. The Games will definitely go on…. I cannot understand why the British Commonwealth countries would do anything that would affect their Games, particularly in a matter about something over which we have no control.

We have absolutely no control over the actions of the MCC. We are a multi-racial organisation with no colour bar. There is no question of the Games being called off. But we are still hoping there will be no withdrawals by Commonwealth countries. We want to bring the black and white people together under the roof of the Commonwealth Games.

They are trying to separate black and white. I think the African countries are very keen to come to Scotland, and I will say now that the Games will go on. Their swimmers compete in a wide range of international and national competitions including the Olympic and Commonwealth Games. Warrender has been called the premier swimming club in Scotland and claims to be one of the oldest, most successful swimming clubs in the UK.

Dubbed the "little games", they followed the British Commonwealth Games which were held in Edinburgh from 16 to 25 July of that year. David Deas Stevenson is a Scottish former athlete. He competed for Great Britain in the men's pole vault at the Summer Olympics, where he placed 20th.

He was also a successful businessman, serving as managing director of Edinburgh Woollen Mill from to Main article: Athletics at the British Commonwealth Games. Main article: Badminton at the British Commonwealth Games. Main article: Diving at the British Commonwealth Games. Glasgow Herald. Retrieved 5 November Retrieved 6 November Commonwealth Games. Commonwealth Games medal tables.

Portals : Sports. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses. Edinburgh , Scotland. Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Crawford Fairbrother. Meadowbank Stadium. New Zealand. Jamie Paulson CAN. Paul Whetnall ENG. Ray Sharp ENG. Margaret Beck ENG. Gillian Perrin ENG. Margaret Boxall ENG. James Odwori UGA. Anthony Davies WAL. Butterfield AUS. Michael Abrams ENG. Dave Needham ENG. Leo Rwabwogo UGA. Davy Larmour NIR. Sulley Shittu GHA. Samuel Mbugua KEN.

Stewart Ogilvie SCO. Courtney Atherly GUY. Philip Waruinge KEN. Deogratias Musoke UGA. Mir Samar PAK. Alan Richardson ENG. Abayomi Adeyemi NGR. John Gillan SCO. Tatu Ghionga MAW. Moses Mbogwa KEN.

Mohamed Muruli UGA. Dai Davies WAL. Emmanuel Lawson GHA. Paul Kayula ZAM. Emma Ankudey GHA. John Olulu KEN. Tommy Joyce SCO. Shivaji Bhonsle IND. Tom Imrie SCO. Julius Luipa ZAM. Patrick Doherty NIR.

David Attan KEN. John Conteh ENG. Titus Simba TAN. Robert Murphy AUS. Samuel Kasongo ZAM. Fatai Ayinla NGR. Oliver Wright JAM.

Victor Attivor GHA. John Rafferty SCO. Benson Masanda UGA. Jack Meda CAN. Leslie Stevens ENG. Harry Kent NZL. Leslie King TRI. Jocelyn Lovell CAN. John Nicholson AUS. Gordon Johnson AUS.

Ian Hallam ENG. Danny Clark AUS. Blair Stockwell NZL. Brian Temple SCO. Vernon Stauble TRI. Road Event. Bruce Biddle NZL. Ray Bilney AUS. John Trevorrow AUS. Mike Breckin ENG.

Barry Paul ENG. Graham Paul ENG. Bill Hoskyns ENG. Lester Wong CAN. Peter Jacobs ENG. Alexander Leckie SCO. Rodney Craig ENG. Richard Cohen ENG. Scotland SCO A. Mitchell Alexander Leckie Gordon Wiles. Marion Exelby AUS.

Susan Youngs SCO. Scotland SCO B. Williams Judith Bain Susan Youngs. Michael Wenden AUS. Greg Rogers AUS. William Devenish AUS. Ralph Hutton CAN. Graham White AUS. Greg Brough AUS. Graham Windeatt AUS. Max Tavasci AUS. Mark Treffers NZL. Bill Kennedy CAN. Michael Richards WAL. Erik Fish CAN. Raymond Terrell ENG. Neil Rogers AUS. William Mahony CAN. Peter Cross CAN. Paul Jarvie AUS.

David Wilkie SCO. Tom Arusoo CAN. Ron Jacks CAN. Martyn Woodroffe WAL. James Findlay AUS. George Smith CAN. Ken Campbell CAN.

Angela Coughlan CAN. Lynne Watson AUS. Jenny Watts AUS. Karen Moras AUS. Alex Jackson IOM.