Wimbledon under pressure to acknowledge role in exclusion of Hoosen Bobat

The All-England Tennis Club, who run the world famous Championships Wimbledon, have been placed under pressure to admit their part in the exclusion Hoosen Bobat from the 1971 junior Wimbledon tournament.

Bobat played on South Africa’s first non-racial international tennis tour at the age of 18 and was initially invited to take part in the junior singles event at the Wimbledon tournament.

Wimbledon withdrew Hoosen Bobat’s invitation

However, his entry was cancelled by the AETC on the instructions of the then general secretary of the International Lawn Tennis Federation (ILTF), Mr Basil Reay, acting at the behest of the Apartheid-era exclusively-white South African tennis union.

“All we wanted to do was play tennis,” Bobat told the Guardian. “To make our people back home proud that black people, no matter the lack of facilities, lack of sponsorship, can still play on the greatest stage in the world.”

According to a statement issued on behalf of Bobat and South African academic Saleem Badat requests for a meeting between the former player and the AELTC have been denied.

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Justice further delayed

Badat asserts that the issue was raised in a letter to AETC chief executive Sally Bolton and added that she has replied saying she does not have time to meet them.

“Prevarication in dealing with this issue will only add salt to a long-standing wound,” said Saleem Badat. “I have therefore written to her again saying we very much hope that the issue will be treated with due urgency.

“Her initial reply to me said that entries that year were via national federations, but she seems not to appreciate that – in the context of Apartheid – a black South African would not have been permitted to be a member of the racist, exclusively-white national federation. That was forbidden by law.

“The exclusion of Mr Bobat from junior Wimbledon in 1971 is a profound matter of social justice that touches on questions of ‘race’, diversity and inclusion, issues that the All-England Lawn Tennis Club states that it is committed to confronting.

“I hope that this commitment will extend to rectifying past injustices. Mr Bobat’s 1971 exclusion is an opportunity for the AELTC to acknowledge a fifty-two year wrong and contribute to healing a sore that has festered far too long.”