Boycott of Commonwealth Games Feared : Possible Reaction to Britons Playing in S. Africa, Official Says

The decision of 16 English cricketers to play in a South Africa tour this winter might destroy the Commonwealth Games, a British sports official said today.

Tony Ward, spokesman for the British Amateur Athletics Board, said that if black African countries protest by boycotting next year’s event in Auckland, New Zealand--as they did the Edinburgh games in 1986--”it would be the last Commonwealth Games.”

“No city would want to host the games only to have the rug pulled from under its feet at the last minute,” Ward said.

“It would be a tragedy because it is a great international festival and the friendliest games in the world,” he said. “It is difficult to predict what the African, Asian and Caribbean countries will do.”

Auckland Organizing Committee Chairman David Johnston said he is confident that the Africans will attend. The committee expects a record 4,000 athletes from 52 countries to compete.

Commonwealth Secretary General Sir Sonny Ramphal, on his way to Australia for a meeting of Commonwealth foreign ministers about apartheid, also said he thinks African nations will be in Auckland.

“I would not expect them to (boycott), and I certainly hope they do not,” he said.

Australia Foreign Minister Gareth Evans said in Canberra that it is too early to say how the tour will affect the games, but he deplored the actions of the rebels.

Ramphal urged cricket authorities to take a tough stance against the players, led by former England captain Mike Gatting.

“It is an act of treachery,” Ramphal said in an interview on British Broadcasting Corp. radio.

He said the tour sent all the wrong signals to South Africa and called on the British government to continue to speak with “firmness and passion” against the move.

“Gatting and his colleagues are saying you can buy off isolation. You can manage to keep things going the way they are.

“That is why it is so pernicious,” he said.