Salisbury Sports Club tournament in 1970 to be racially homogenous, this also applied to visiting squads. The South African government provoked overseas ire in 1968 when it refused entry to the England cricket team because its proposed tour party included Basil D'Oliveira, a Cape Coloured. Amid the ensuing scandal, Marylebone Cricket Club (which then governed English cricket) called off the tour. Two years later, a tour of England by the South Africa cricket team was cancelled by the English Test and County Cricket Board (TCCB) at a week's notice following public protests and immense pressure from the UK government. South Africa did not play another official
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