Archives

by Wisden Cricinfo staff

A report in Sunday's Observer newspaper in London claims that opponents of Robert Mugabe's regime are planning to disrupt the forthcoming Zimbabwe tour of England which gets under way next weekend.

Zimbabwe are due to play two Tests and three one-day internationals, and pro-democracy groups are aiming to use the matches to highlight the human rights abuses of the Mugabe government.

Alan Wilkinson, an activist at the centre of the protests, told the Observer what the group were going to do. "Hit-and-run tactics are going to be employed," he said, "such as hundreds of people invading the pitch wearing either black armbands or cricket flannels covered in fake blood. People will be at most of Zimbabwe's fixtures who will be ready to storm the pitch and disrupt the game when the time is right."

If the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) had hoped that the issue of playing against Zimbabwe would die down once the World Cup was over, it has been wrong. While in Zimbabwe protests were kept to a minimum by a combination of fear and tight security, in England personal safety is not an issue and demonstrations are almost inevitable. A significant number of people believe that sporting links with Zimbabwe - while it is governed by Mugabe - are abhorrent and they plan to make their views very public.

And the ECB also has another problem looming. A group of MPs are due to meet next week in the House of Commons to discuss the issue, and it is expected that they will write to the sponsors of English cricket to put pressure on them to distance themselves from the series, as well as urging the public to boycott the matches.

The ECB has continued to maintain its stance that it is not doing anything which other sports organisations are not. "Why should the England cricket team be asked to make a gesture like that when nobody else is breaking off sporting contact with Zimbabwe?" argued ECB spokesman John Read. "People play Zimbabweans at golf and tennis, and their athletes competed at last summer's Commonwealth Games in Manchester, so should we alone take a stand? We are cricketers, not politicians."

The campaigners are hoping that Andy Flower and Henry Olonga - the two Zimbabwean players who bravely donned black armbands during a World Cup match in Harare to protest against the "death of democracy", and who subsequently left Zimbabwe to live in England - will join their protests. That is unlikely given that Flower is contracted to Essex and Olonga will be commentating for Channel 4.

But Flower told the Sunday Telegraph that he welcomed any demonstrations. "I actually think that [demonstrations] will be a positive thing because it will give the human-rights activists a chance to highlight the problems in Zimbabwe," he wrote. "But I do not think that sporting sanctions against Zimbabwe will necessarily work. The Zimbabwean leadership have their hands rather full these days, what with their own business interests and rapidly deteriorating economy ... and an increasingly hungry, and therefore restless, population."

Protests from within the Zimbabwe side are also extremely unlikely. "During the tournament very few of them were willing to discuss our statement," explained Flower. "We all got on fine but their shying away from the situation mirrored the fear within the whole of the country, where nobody wants to speak up."

Those who were most opposed to Mugabe have either retired or not been included in the touring party. Peter Tatchell, activist and long-time protestor against Mugabe, criticised the ECB for playing against what he described as a "politically veted" opposition. "'Zimbabwe's cricketers are sporting ambassadors for the regime," Tatchell told the Observer. "Mugabe wants this tour to go ahead as part of his strategy to normalise relations with the rest of the world."

Former England captain Mike Brearley also gave his support to those opposing the matches going ahead. "There is a powerful case for not having the Zimbabweans play here because it makes a clear statement that we don't want to give moral support to a regime as odious as Mugabe's."

It promises to be a difficult couple of months for all concerned.

www.crescat.com

News | Business | Features | Editorial | Security
Politics | World | Letters | Sports | Obituaries |

Produced by Lake House
Copyright 2001 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.
Comments and suggestions to :Web Manager