Barbarians, Bridge Builders, and Boycott: The British Sports Council’s Fact-Finding Mission to South Africa

Abstract

In January 1980, four representatives of the British Sports Council began a fact-finding mission in South Africa to assess whether or not the apartheid nation had taken significant steps towards social and racial equality in its sports culture. The Council published its conclusions in a long and detailed document. Although the report unreservedly ‘condemned’ apartheid, it indicated that South African sport was experiencing increasing levels of integration. The Sports Council’s work, and the public discourse it generated in Britain, helped to clarify two important issues. First, any changes South Africa might have made or would make to its sporting infrastructure were, by 1980, almost completely irrelevant as a strategy to end isolation. The global coalition behind the boycott – under pressure from the anti-apartheid movement, African states, and the communist bloc – would only sanction South Africa’s readmission if apartheid per se ceased to exist. Second, any investigation or recommendation vis-a-vis South Africa’s isolation made by Britain alone lacked credibility. With a history of consistently flouting the boycott, anti-apartheid activists viewed Britain as a ‘weak link’ in the chain. Britain could contribute to the maintenance of South Africa’s isolation, but on its own could not end it.