5 replies to this topic

[racer69]

I found this interesting piece in the May 1981 edition of Chequered Flag Magazine (Australian mag)

Alan Jones has been black banned!

The world champion has been listed by the Union of Black African States as banned from competing in any black nation, a course of action that will hardly endear those nations to motorsport fans.

It is thought the ban will hardly slow Alan and his drive towards World Championship number two, though his teammate, Carlos Reutemann, obviously has other ideas

What was the meaning of this 'black ban', what did it hope to achieve & why was ALan given it, and did anyone else receive this ban??

[Allan Lupton]

May have something to do with Australian immigration rules of the time (know as "White Australia" IIRC) and would have been part of a general ban on Australians taking part in sports and games in "Black Africa". Not many top rate motor races occurred in that area, so Alan Jones can hardly have noticed the effect.

[Catalina Park]

Originally posted by Allan Lupton
May have something to do with Australian immigration rules of the time (know as "White Australia" IIRC) and would have been part of a general ban on Australians taking part in sports and games in "Black Africa". Not many top rate motor races occurred in that area, so Alan Jones can hardly have noticed the effect.

The White Australia Policy was long gone by then. It would have been something to do with the Australian Government allowing trading with South Africa.

[Allan Lupton]

I stand corrected: I get confused about the timescale of some of the events on the fringe of my interest.
That would have been about the time that a South African, Keplar Wessels, became Australian so that he could carry on playing international cricket, not so?

[Catalina Park]

Originally posted by Allan Lupton
That would have been about the time that a South African, Keplar Wessels, became Australian so that he could carry on playing international cricket, not so?

That could be the reason for the ban.

[Hieronymus]

The priapismic Robert Mugabe was most probably the "brain" behind this genial ban.