Читать книгу No Win Race. A Story of Belonging, Britishness and Sport онлайн

66 страница из 87

‘The whole issue [of race and apartheid] is quite central to me,’ said Richards. ‘I believe very strongly in the black man asserting himself in this world and over the years I have leaned towards many movements that followed this basic cause.’⁵

In the end, a West Indian team comprising world-class batsmen like Lawrence Rowe and Alvin Kallicharran, all-rounder Franklyn Stephenson and fast bowlers like Colin Croft and Sylvester Clarke went on tour, much to the wrath of the Caribbean. Each had been paid allegedly around US$100,000, huge sums at the time, for two tours against the banned South African team. Upon arrival in 1982, they had been honoured/insulted by being classified as ‘honorary whites’. The tour had been a low point in the history of West Indies cricket. An unforgiveable stain. The ‘rebel’ players were less than ‘house negros’ and more like slave traders in the eyes of the Caribbean.

Former Jamaican Prime Minister Michael Manley summed up the feelings of Caribbean people in A History of West Indian Cricket when he wrote: ‘To the members of the black diaspora the oppression which continues unabated in South Africa has become the symbol of more than a tyranny to be overthrown. Apartheid points like a dagger at the throat of black self-worth in every corner occupied by the descendants of Africa.’