Lawrence Rowe's critics must forgive and forget

Jamaicans have done Lawrence Rowe a huge injustice and ought to be ashamed of ourselves for, ad infinitum, belittling and embarrassing an essentially good man.

Rowe's decision to lead a rebel tour to apartheid South Africa to play cricket is something that many Jamaicans haven't forgiven him for, and to this day the man is still being held up to public ridicule on skewed and expedient moral grounds.

I know some of those who treat the name Lawrence Rowe with contempt, then and now, and many of them can't hold a candle to the man in terms of being a decent human being.

Before we behave holier than thou and say we wouldn't have done what he did, we need to remember that first-class cricketers in the West Indies, back then, were very poorly paid, many of them having no job in the off season.

Abraham Maslow told us nearly 70 years ago, in his seminal work, 'A Theory of Human Motivation', that before man can start thinking of abstract concepts like morality, he has, first, to satisfy other more urgent needs like food, clothing and shelter. It is known that many of these struggling players received somewhere close to 60 times the amount they would normally get playing for the West Indies, to go to South Africa! What did we really expect them to do? It would be unrealistic to expect them not to go!

We wanted these players to have the same political and social awareness that some of us conveniently claim to have. We wanted them to stay here and entertain us while earning peanuts, but as C.L.R. James said in Beyond a Boundary, referring to Sir Learie Constantine and others leaving the West Indies to play league cricket in England, if we want cricket to be their life, it must also be their livelihood!

Unfair assumption

Detractors who insist that Rowe & Co 'supported' apartheid by going are being unfair. They held no placards, nor did they voice support for the system. They merely went to play cricket, to be paid handsomely for their God-given talent, and by doing so went against political directorate which felt that a boycott was the best method to bring apartheid down.

It is instructive to remember that a Carl Stone poll done during those very tumultuous years showed that 68 per cent of Jamaicans had no difficulty with the rebel tour. In other words, Rowe and the rest are being ostracised for doing what the common man would have done.

Caribbean double standards

Looking back, one must question our sense of fair play. Lawrence Rowe and others were initially banished from cricket, until we saw the error of our ways and lifted the life ban. Other countries, like England, were far more lenient with their so-called rebels. Think of this rather cruel irony. Graham Gooch took an England team to South Africa in March 1982. By 1986, when the England team was touring the West Indies, Gooch was opening the batting. The first Test was played right here in Jamaica. Lawrence and others had to sit and watch because, at that time, they were not welcome on cricket fields in the region. Those who had banned Rowe & Co from playing, not only for, but in the West Indies, never saw any problem in entertaining foreign rebels who had committed the same crime!

If we were so self-righteous and sensitive about our players who had gone to South Africa and were prepared to ban them for life, none of those who did exactly what they did should have been welcome here!

For the record, John Dyson went to South Africa and played during the apartheid era. He later coached the West Indies, and there was not one word from our holier-than-thou saints.

Yet a players' pavilion at Sabina Park is named in honour of Rowe - a decision which was reversed last week - and some of us suddenly discover how morally upright we are. Critics say Rowe's action should have prevented him from being so honoured. Is coaching the West Indies, as a former rebel, a trifle honour? The answer should be obvious to all but the wilfully perverse. And I can't recall John Dyson apologising for going to South Africa before he was given the honour of directing our cricket either.

It's time to give Lawrence Rowe a break. Allow him, for God's sake, to live the rest of his life in peace.

Orville Higgins is a sportscaster. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com.