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. |