Connie Selebogo
The tiny south Pacific island of Guam is prepared to take on South Africa’s baseball team in a scheduled Olympic qualifier in December, but is not prepared to risk meeting the country’s muggers and murderers.
A top official of the Gaum National Olympic Committee (GNOC) says because of Johannesburg’s rampant crime, the match should not take place in South Africa.
GNOC president Rick Blas has been lobbying the Oceania Baseball Federation to consider moving the game against South Africa to New Zealand or Guam. But the manager of the South African team, Angela Couvaras, accused Blas of “politicising” sport, adding that the Guam team “will come here whether they want to or not.
“We are expecting Guam to come to South Africa in December. Whatever they say has nothing to do with us. We have no time to entertain such silly comments as we are concentrating on the All Africa Games.”
In a report published in Gaum’s Pacific Daily News, Blas claims that Johannesburg is the murder capital of the world and not safe for his team. “There were 5 873 murders and 6 762 attempted murders in Johannesburg in 1997, according to South African police statistics,” the report reads.
Blas says: “The United States State Department has not issued any bans on Americans travelling to South Africa, but they have issued a warning like `don’t go out alone at night’ and `travel in group’.”
But there may be other motives for the Guam team’s reluctance to come to Johannesburg. The Mail & Guardian has learnt that GNOC is bankrupt.
This year it hosted the 1999 South Pacific Games but received little support from sponsors. Blas has been experiencing difficulties in raising the money to bring a 15-person baseball squad to Johannesburg.
The Guam team, which won gold at the South Pacific Games, is scheduled to compete against South Africa in a five-game series to be held in Johannesburg from December 16.
The winner of the series will advance to the Sydney 2000 Olympic baseball tournament in Australia.
If his efforts to get the game moved are unsuccessful, Blas says he will consider “security measures. If we are going to compete there, I am going to be very clear. I am going to work on security measures. If it comes down to us needing to hire security forces, then I will take it up with the GNOC executive committee.”