Tour of South Africa 1975-76            

Tour Cancelled

Would have been 37th Australian Test tour

Would have been eighth Test-playing tour of South Africa by Australia

(February - April 1976)

A meeting of the Australian Cricket Board was planned in Melbourne on 5 February to discuss the tour. On 18 February 1975 the Australian Cricket Board withdrew from the invitation to South Africa in the face of pressure from the federal government. 

Chairman Tim Caldwell described the cancellation as a tragedy but felt the Board had no option but to cancel the tour in view of the likely repercussions.

The government was opposed to Australian sports teams playing teams from other countries selected racially. Boon Wallace the President of the South African Cricket Association said it was a great disappointment after the progress made in South Africa towards multi-racial cricket.

A fortnight later the South African Minister for Sport announced that invitation teams “consisting of the various peoples of South Africa” would be allowed to play against the Derrick Robins team already on tour there. However, the national team would still not be selected on merit alone.

After withdrawing from the invitation the Australian Board held discussions with its counterparts in India, Pakistan, New Zealand and the WestIndies about touring there or them making a tour of Australia, and in the end West Indies came for a six-Test tour.

The Sunday Times reported that South African officials calling themselves “the Committee for Fairness in Sport” approached Australian players at the 1975 World Cup to make a private tour of South Africa in March 1976 under the name of “Ian Chappell’s XI”.  The Federal Government would not be able to prevent the cricketers from traveling to South Africa for a private tour but there is no evidence that any of them intended to join this venture.

Other Australian Tours

Previous tour

To England 1975

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To New Zealand 1976-77

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 1993-94