Kōrero: Government and sport

The 1976 World Softball Championships, which included a South African team, were held in Lower Hutt, and attracted a large group of noisy anti-apartheid protesters. Abraham Ordia, president of the Supreme Council for Sport in Africa, had called for an international boycott of the event, and only seven countries turned up. However, New Zealand's recently elected National government had promised not to prevent sporting contacts with South Africa.