Australia called on the British government Tuesday to bar Fiji from the rugby league World Cup in November as the country announced a series of sporting sanctions.
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said they could not ban Fiji's Olympic team from the Sydney Games in September but they would bar their rugby teams from entering Australia following the tearing-up of the country's multi-racial constitution.
"Our position is this: We do not want, for as long as Fiji remains anti-democratic as it currently is, Fiji sporting teams to visit Australia," Downer told reporters Tuesday.
It is the first time Australia has imposed sporting sanctions since South Africa's rugby and cricket teams were dumped from the world stage because of apartheid 40 years ago.
"We make an exception for the Olympics because there was an agreement entered into by SOCOG with the International Olympic Committee under which all members of the international Olympic movement, regardless of political status and the like, are able to participate in the Olympic Games," Downer said.
"It would be an abrogation of that agreement, not just between Australia but between the parties to the international Olympic movement."
But the exception would not be extended to other teams.
Australian Rugby Union spokesman Strath Gordon said the ARU would abide by whatever the government directed.
But Fiji's rugby coach, former Wallaby coach Greg Smith, was outraged by the bans. "Their rugby team is something that they look up to. Their boys ironically are a team that play by the rules. They are a role model to the rest of the country," Smith told ABC Radio – (AFP)
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