Further Protests At Sunday Games

A strong protest has been made by the Fiji Amateur Athletics Association against Sunday competitions during the South Pacific Games at Noumea next year.

The president, Mr. A. J. Scott, has written to the Fiji Amateur Sports Association, saying that the proposed programme for the Games provides that athletics will take place on four consecutive days, one of them a Sunday. He said that a letter to the Games organisers protesting about certain sports being played on a Sunday had not even been answered.

Mr. Scott pointed out that most members of the Fiji athletics team will be Fijians, and that almost every one of them is a practising member of the Methodist Church. They would object most deeply to competing on a Sunday, and might refuse to compete.

The letter commented: “We are sure that the Games Council cannot be unaware of this factor and can only conclude that the refusal to acknowledge the first letter on this subject must have been activated by motives other than efficiency and co-operation in the staging of the second South Pacific Games.”