Gary Player: Happy 80th Birthday From Your Racist Soul Mates

Dale Hayes' column wishing Gary Player a happy 80th birthday (5/11/15) was a whitewashed tribute to the man and his professional golfing career. Hayes tellingly points out that "Gary has always been very patriotic to South Africa. It is his home . . . and he was always prepared to pay the cost of being a South African in those dark days of apartheid". Hayes, however, fails to mention that in the dark days of apartheid, Player's affaire de coeur with the apartheid regime. In his book Grand Slam Golf, Player wrote: "I am of the South Africa of Verwoerd and apartheid . . . to maintain civilised values and standards amongst the alien barbarians . . . The African". In addition, it was no secret that Player was used as a de facto ambassador for the apartheid government, and lent his support to the government's Committee in Fairness for Sport to overcome South Africa's global boycott. Player was subsequently added to the UN's blacklist for breaking the sports boycott. Player is known as the "Black Knight", presumably based on a noble character in Arthurian legend. Based on Players's despicable racist past, the title is decidedly undeserving. In closing, birthday wishes from your racist soul mates, Verwoerd, Vorster and PW Botha.