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10 Bristol, England.
11 Ethiopia did not attend the 1956 FIFA Congress but had representation in 1957 in Sudan when CAF was officially formed.
12 Telephone interview with Dr Alegi.
13 Sports Historian Volume 21 No. 1, May 2001, The ties that bind: South Africa and sports diplomacy, 1958-1963 by Marc Keech.
14 The Star, January 9, 1963 as quoted by United Nations Unit on Apartheid, Notes and Documents, No. 16/71, April 1971 (http://www.anc.org.za/ancdocs/history/aam/abdul-2.html).
If in its explanation FIFA hoped to assuage criticism of its move, it certainly did not work. The South African Non-Racial Olympic Committee (SANROC) promptly cabled FIFA signalling its opposition. SANROC also stated: “any lifting of [the] South African suspension by your Executive will contravene the 1964 FIFA Congress.” They went on to warn that, should there be any thought of indulging South Africa “there will be serious repercussions at the World Cup in 1974.” The Supreme Council of Sport in Africa was also incensed by FIFA’s stance. Its president, Abraham Ordia, spoke for them all when he said support for South African sports was a “violation of human dignity.” He called for all countries to stand united: “I think it will be wrong for any country to support South African sports at this time. They have not made sufficient progress in mixed sports.” CAF was also riled, and its president, Yidnekatchew Tessema, likewise spoke for everyone when he said: “It is unconstitutional, in my opinion. The Executive Committee cannot take a decision by correspondence overruling the decision of the Congress.”
The African associations realised that the only way to tackle not only the South African issue, but also other matters affecting the continent, was to forge alliances with other equally discontented confederations. At a meeting in Rio de Janeiro in December 1973, Africa officially forged an alliance with Latin America. An agreement was reached to vote for Dr Jean-Marie Faustin Goedefroid de Havelange (commonly known as João Havelange), a Brazilian of Belgian descent, as the next FIFA president. The deal was simple: “Get South Africa expelled from FIFA.”
Even before that, other continental bodies were lobbied to push on all fronts, but it was not always easy, as the Africans themselves seem to have been divided as to the exact strategy needed to deal with the South Africa question. In a letter dated April 16, 1971, the President of the Supreme Council of Sport in Africa, Abraham Ordia of Nigeria, recommended caution. Ordia indicated that he had friends in South Africa who had sent him newspaper cuttings indicating that “sport in the country is multiracial and without discrimination” and further implored CAF to “isolate sports from politics.”
In another letter from CAF to the Supreme Council of Sport in Africa, dated September 29, 1976, apparently sparked by the Soweto uprising of June 16 the same year, Yidnekatchew Tessema made clear CAF’s position towards South Africa: “If we are to emerge victorious against the racist enemies of Africa [it is imperative that] we take stock of our past efforts, successes and failures in the common struggle [and based on our findings] devise the best possible strategy and tactics for the future.” The six-page letter proposed a boycott by African countries of the 1976 Olympics in Montréal if “South Africa continues to enjoy [the] support of international bodies.” Tessema outlined what he called a more “effective strategy in our continuing struggle against racism and apartheid South Africa.” According to him, such a position would clearly demonstrate that Africa would not hesitate to make any sacrifices for “the defence and dignity of the black race.” In the face of such a determined position by Africans, most countries would have had no choice but to “sever their sports relations with South Africa.”
The South African sports authorities, however, remained intransigent. In 1975, the secretary of the South African Lawn Tennis Union, Louis Janssens, said that South Africa would not withdraw from the Davis Cup competition even though no countries were prepared to play against them. Just before then, the Mexican government had refused to grant visas to South African players and also refused to allow the Mexican team to “play against the South Africans at any other venue.” The previous year, in 1974, both Argentina and India had refused to play South Africa even though this meant South Africa would win by default.
CAF, meanwhile, was stepping up its ongoing efforts to isolate South Africa completely. In another communiqué, this time to IOC president Lord Killian, a seven-page letter threatened an African boycott of the 1976 Olympic Games because, although South Africa was not playing any international football matches, it had other sports relations with some countries. Tessema wrote: “[T]he African teams will withdraw from the Games, refusing to stand beside athletes from New Zealand.” The reason for opposing New Zealand in this instance was “the dispatch, despite opposition from African sports and political authorities, of a rugby team to South Africa, especially after the Soweto massacre.”
It was at the 1974 FIFA Congress in Frankfurt, West Germany, that the person whom CAF believed would finally listen to them, won the FIFA presidency. Africa voted as a bloc, and this not only brought in a new man, but Dr João Havelange would be the first non-European president of FIFA. CAF’s motion, which stipulated automatic expulsion of “any association representing a country that has instituted ethnic, racial and/or religious discrimination in its territory,” was finally being carried out.
Before then, while his FIFA presidency was still in its infancy, Havelange had warned South Africa that if it continued “to disregard FIFA guidelines on racial equality in sport, it risks expulsion.” Havelange’s warning presaged the lull before the storm. As the 1976 FIFA Congress to be held in the Canadian city of Montréal, drew closer, African countries were again preparing to lobby for the expulsion of South Africa from the international football body. CAF President Yidnekatchew Tessema pointed out that a clause inserted into the FIFA rules in 1974 barred countries practicing racial discrimination, which meant that South Africa should necessarily be expelled.
Tessema said that Africans were hoping that the FIFA Congress, scheduled for July 16, “would have the courage to uphold the FIFA regulations which were not aimed at either white or black people in South Africa, but only against racial discrimination.” On Friday, July 16, 1976, South Africa was finally expelled from FIFA. From CAF’s point of view, the voting pattern was most reassuring: 78-9. The decision incidentally came exactly one month after the June 16 massacre by South African police of schoolchildren demonstrating against oppressive and discriminatory laws. (Also incidentally, in 1992 João Havelange became the first FIFA president to visit South Africa after it was readmitted, Sir Stanley Rous having been the last president to visit the country in 1963.) Africans heaved a collective sigh of relief, especially with the exclusion from FIFA – arguably the largest and most influential of all international sports bodies.
FIFA’s move was perhaps best summed up by Abraham Ordia, president of the Supreme Council of Sports in Africa, who said on September 17, 1976, in gratitude for CAF’s efforts: “At long last you have achieved this significant success, not only for Africa, but for the black races of the world and for all those who have respect for human dignity.” FIFA’s decision proved to be a watershed. Two weeks after being excluded from FIFA South Africa was expelled from the International Amateur Athletic Federation by 145 out of 227 votes15 and from the International Amateur Swimming Federation.
A week later South Africa was expelled from yet another international sports body, now swimming; this time it was not by vote, although it later emerged that the decision was backed by more than 85 of the 115 delegates from 74 countries. David de Villiers of the South African Amateur Swimming Union told the Los Angeles Advocate that considerable progress had been made towards ending racial discrimination in sports. “If we are expelled, it will simply isolate South Africa and discourage further progress in ending discrimination.”
By then, South