D'Oliveira affair D'Oliveira affair The D'Oliveira affair was a prolonged political and sporting controversy relating to the scheduled 1968–69 tour of South Africa by the England cricket team, who were officially representing the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC). The point of contention was whether or not the England selectors would include Basil D'Oliveira, a mixed-race South African player who had represented England in Test cricket since 1966, having moved there six years earlier. With South Africa under apartheid, the potential inclusion by England of a non-white South African in their tour party became a political issue. A Cape Coloured of Indian and Portuguese
D'Oliveira affair African government asked New Zealand to field an all-white team (thereby excluding Māori players); the New Zealand Rugby Football Union refused and cancelled the tour. As rugby was very popular among white South Africans, this caused concern in that community. The England cricket team was in New Zealand at the time, and Billy Griffith, by then the secretary of the MCC, when questioned said that the MCC would also cancel in similar circumstances. Despite these events in other world sports, South Africa continued to play international cricket. Efforts to put pressure on the International Cricket Conference (ICC) failed, and even