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
South Africa women's national cricket team cut their ties with the country, exclusion from the 1964 and 1968 Olympics were followed by expulsion from the Olympic Movement in 1970. Later in the same year South African athletes were suspended from international competition by the International Amateur Athletics Federation. The invitation for the South African men's tour of England was initially maintained, but threats of physical disruption to matches from anti-apartheid militants saw the British government step-in to cancel the tour. In May 1970, the Cricket Council made the decision that there should be no further tours to and from South Africa until cricket within the country