‘A banana came flying out of the crowd and landed right at my feet’
In 1980 I was selected by the Welsh Youth to tour South Africa, which posed something of a moral dilemma, as it was during the height of the country’s abhorrent apartheid regime.
The Lions were touring at the same time – we actually played against the Junior Boks as a curtain-raiser to one of the Test matches – and so the whole ethical dilemma was plastered across the media.
Now, while I never paid attention to the news, I had heard the word apartheid, without knowing too much about it back then, and at the end of the day I decided that I would go and find out for myself.
It was also explained to me that I wasn’t a politician, I was a sports person, and by going there I could probably do more good than harm. To be honest with you, I didn’t discuss the matter at all with the Welsh Youth – it never came up. As an excited 17-yearold, on the verge of representing his country in a sport he loved, I was more or less blind to the politics of the situation.
Even now, some people ask me what it was like out there in South Africa at that time but the truth is I saw very little to report, based upon the fact that we were ambassadors for Wales and mostly in our own little bubble.
We always had our Welsh Youth rugby gear on and so no-one was really going to say something or treat us with anything but respect, because we were part of an official tour party. We were sheltered from a lot of it.
That’s not to say that on a couple of occasions, when we weren’t on official engagements, I didn’t hear the odd racist slur. There is one incident that sticks out. I can’t remember the exact location – it was somewhere in Transvaal – but myself and a few of the team had some free time and decided to enter this restaurant for some food.
The place had only just opened for lunch and we were the first ones in there, but, as we sat at our table, those coming in afterwards seemed to be getting served before we were.
Then someone came over and said that they don’t serve black people in that restaurant.
It was certainly the first time something like that had happened to me – I had never been turned away because of the colour of my skin before. It was at that moment that I thought, “So this is it, then. This is what apartheid must be”.
I was aware of apartheid, the divide and the racial tension, but that was the first time I experienced it for myself. I wasn’t upset by it, being the type of person I am. I likened it to when you’re in a foreign country and try their national dish.
Even when the whole squad returned to the same restaurant as the official Welsh Youth party the following night, I didn’t refuse to go. But while we were there the story happened to come out and when the chairman of the Welsh Youth Rugby Union, Henry Hurley, heard how I had been treated, he went over to “Mr Rugby” himself, Danie Craven – the infamous president of the South African Rugby Board – and complained.
Craven actually made a public announcement and apologised on behalf of the whole South African regime and added that from that day forwards, the restaurant would allow black people to eat there as well as white.
Henry thanked him and said: “Right, everybody on the bus!” and we all left.
When I returned home, the boys down Canton asked: “What was it like in South Africa?”
And I replied: “Well, they talk about racism but I thought they treated me really well – they gave me my own bus to go back and forth to games, I had my own little outhouse behind the hotel and they always made sure I had a table to myself when we were eating!” Sadly it seems racism in sport has reared its ugly head once more, which is quite unbelievable when you stop to consider it’s 2019 and we are in a multicultural society. So far, it has been mainly football players who have borne the brunt of it, but it’s unacceptable and the rugby world, while being far more tolerant, can’t be complacent.
A lot of it is media hype – if it wasn’t reported then it would be swept under the carpet or ignored. It seems like there’s more racism now than there was, but there’s not, it’s just being reported more. It’s the same with knife crime – it’s not a new problem but it’s being reported more.
The media needs to be more responsible in terms of what it says and how it says it. They are giving certain people a platform which they shouldn’t have. These people are faceless through doing things in crowds, that’s what they hide behind.
They are just cowards who are being given a bit of credence. I think it shouldn’t be reported.
You can’t control what people really think. You can’t change their minds. All this legislation is coming from a good place, they don’t want to offend anybody or make anyone feel inferior to anyone else.
I suppose the only way they can do that is by making it law, so, outwardly, people won’t break the law but, inwardly, that’s a different matter.
Fortunately, I witnessed very little racism during my senior rugby career, although there were some incidents which, while perhaps not intentionally racist and meant in good humour, when you stop to consider, could be seen as racist.