West Indies tour of South Africa 1982/83 - The Rebel Tour

You go down cricket’s memory lane and you would come across good and bad

moments. But perhaps the saddest moments of all would be the South African rebeltours (1982-1990). These were a series of seven tours to South Africa also billed asthe ‘rebel tours’ because the South African team had been banned from internationalcricket due to the apartheid regime. These tours were not recognised asofficial cricket tours by the International cricket conference (ICC) and facedstrong disapproval from international organisations like the United Nations. Itwas in 1982-83 that it was finalised that a West Indian ‘rebel squad’ would be touringSouth Africa. At that time West Indian cricket was its prime. Such was the case in thecarribean that consistent performances in the domestic circuit were also not enoughfor a West Indian cricketer to book his place in the national squad . It was in sucha situation that the talented understudies of caribbean cricket like Lawrence Rowe,Collis King and Sylvester Clarke were motivated by money and a desire to dosomething bigger than cricket decided to undertake this rebel tour . The amount ofmoney that the West Indian players received for the tour was reported to bebetween US$100,000 and US$120,000 . This amount was probably the biggestdriving factor for the West Indians to undertake the tour because at that timefirst-class cricketers in the caribbean were poorly paid and rarely rewarded fortheir performances with a national call – up. The West Indian cricketers were billedas missionaries when they first landed on South African soil. South Africansexpected that seeing the mighty West Indians , most of whom were blacks, playcricket would help the black people’s cause in South Africa and would thuseliminate Apartheid but that of course didn’t happen . The West Indian’s won the testseries 2-1 and also the one day series 4-2 but as the tour progressed it started facingwidespread criticism from the South African media.

The West Indian’s had hoped that their tour would bring about a change in the SouthAfrican society but the non-whites in South Africa who had earlier idolised theblack West Indians were now angry to see West Indians collaborating with theirapartheid enemies.The West Indian players who had participated in the tourswere banned for life by the caribbean cricket in 1983. They faced widespreadcriticism from their home fans when they returned to the caribbean . The decision toundertake the tour turned out to be the worst decision of their lives as many of theplayerS left the caribbean after facing criticism and dissent for their participation inthe tour . One such player was David Murray . After receiving a life ban fromcaribbean cricket Murray and his family lost everything .His wife had given birthto their baby daughter in Australia while Murray was playing in South Africa. Theyfaced being deported from Australia and were unwelcome back in the caribbean too.They had a newborn and nowhere to go. Today Murray lives in poverty with hisfamily in his hometown of Bridgetown. The captain of the ‘rebel team’ Lawrence Rowewas ostracised in jamaica and was ultimately forced to leave the country . He nowresides in Miami, USA.It has been three decades since the infamous rebel tour took place. A bunch ofcricketers wishing to contribute something more than cricket were seen as rebelsby the non – whites in South Africa. They were not seen as professional cricketersbut as crusaders who were responsible for further strengthening the apartheid regime.Their cricketing careers were snatched away from them and after 3 decades the socalled ‘rebel team’ continues to pay the price of trying to reform society for a betterfuture.