Readers respond: Should the Black Caps tour Zimbabwe?

The Black Caps' proposed tour to Zimbabwe next month has sparked fierce controversy with New Zealand Cricket determined to push ahead with the trip. The Herald asked readers whether the team should tour, and if the Government should pay fines imposed by the International Cricket Council if the tour is canned. Here is a selection of your views.

No, the tour should not go ahead, nor should the Government pay any fine. The $2.8 m. quoted is the minimum, could go to any amount, and would go directly to Mugabe as compensation. The Government should simply say "the tour is off."
G Thompson

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Tour Zimbabwe - NO! Pay the fine - NO! The ICC has lost touch with reality, and it is better that we defy them and pull out of international cricket altogether. We may lose the game, but we will win respect. And cricket will survive.
Jean Nuttall

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The Black Caps should not tour Zimbabwe. Human life should come before television and sporting profit.
Steven Phillips

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If there is any way that part of a fine from the New Zealand Government paid to the ICC for the Black Caps not touring Zimbabwe will end up in the hands of the Mugabe Government, then this should be made clear to the New Zealand public who can voice their opinion. Given the percentage of polled people who oppose the tour, it would seem likely that a similar percentage would oppose giving Mugabe any NZ money.
Richard Finley

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My views are that this tour should not proceed. Pressure should be brought to bear on the ICC and NZC to cancel it. The comment by the ICC that human rights issues are not reason enough for the tour to be cancelled is spurious and should be viewed in the light that money is more important than people to the ICC.

It's also been propounded by the ICC that cancelling the tour will affect many younger players in Zimbabwe. If this is the case, so be it... Nor should our Government bail out NZC, but if enough players pull out (as is their right, from what I gather) on personal grounds then no tour will take place anyway.
Skip Ryan

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I think the Blacks Caps should go to Zimbabwe as to boycott the tour will not influence Mugabe in the slightest and his evilness will remain. Despots, tyrants and dictators are notoriously impervious to opprobrium.
John Webb

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No to the tour. Yes to the Govt backing that stance by paying the fine.
Bruce Rankin

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Its hard to imagine that there is any hesitation at NZ Cricket to cancel the tour. The arrogance of Mugabe is amazing and demonstrates his concern for his people by destroying their homes without consideration for where they go next.

Zimbabwean cricketers Flowers and Olonga have a handle on what is going on so why doesn't the ICC and NZC do something?

This isn't the only reasons for not going there, but it is only one of many.
Keith Kietzmann

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The tour should be cancelled.....as many have stated the regime of Mugabe must not be condoned whether it be in sport or any other means. What's with the world and its so called "caring" nations.... and the ICC, are they that heartless. People are suffering and how can a person do this to his own?

If something terrible happens to our team whilst fulfilling the ICC's criteria are the ICC able to compensate the families of these men?? Heaven forbid if something does happen. No amount of money would be able to fix that!
June Tipoki

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The Black Caps should definitely not go to Zimbabwe. I am sorry for the Black Caps' losses, but it's a small sacrifice to make for the sake of humanity. At the end of the day, it's a game, and cannot possibly equate with the mass suffering of the Zimbabwean people.

Maybe if each NZer who opposed to the tour would donate $1-$2 to a boycott cause, there would be enough to pay the fine. Then we would all together be making a stand for human rights. Idealistic maybe, but possible.
Niki Hiini

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The tour should be cancelled. Didn't we go through this nonsense in 1981 with another brutal regime?
R Twaddle

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A New Zealand representative team should NOT go to Zimbabwe at this time. If they do decide to go, all team members should be asked to demonstratively show concern for the dispossessed of that country by undertaking such actions as Amnesty International suggests.
John Nicol

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I feel it's appalling for New Zealand Cricket to even contemplate touring the country. I wouldn't even enter the country as a tourist let alone an international sporting team!

What message is this sending to an oppresive government like Zimbabwe, we dont mind (here in NZ) what you are doing to your people, we would still like to give you the honour of us touring you country!
Peter Miller

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It's a joke to advise the Black Caps will tour but not have any contact with the Zimbabwe government. If Mr Mugabe can grab Prince Charles' hand at the Pope's funeral, we can all be sure that he will find a way to get mileage.

No way should any team representing NZ tour, play or engage in any form of contact with a team representing Zimbabwe. To do so provides the Zimbabwe government more evidence to tout their warped sense of legitmacy.

Shame on NZ Cricket, and the Black Caps's if they can't see this bigger picture.
Paul Stephens

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In my opinion, our cricket team should go to Zimbabwe because Mugabe's dictatorial governance has nothing to do with New Zealand. That is his country's affair. We do not have a right to interfere. The fine is a huge burden to all New Zealanders.

National Party leader Don Brash yesterday said that if his party became Government it would pay the ICC fine. Can he take fully responsibility for it? I don't think so.
Weiwen Qiu

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One way or the other. In the words of Henry Olonga and Andy Flower, they cannot "in good conscience take to the field and ignore the fact that millions...are starving, unemployed and oppressed".

If they decide not to protest by refusing to go, they must protest some other way.
Ced Simpson, Executive Director, Amnesty International Aotearoa New Zealand

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Of course the Black Caps should not go, what is going on over in Zimbabwe is worse than what was going on in South Africa in the early days and we boycotted them.

If New Zealand go they will be sending a message to Mugabe that he can continue doing what he is doing and nothing will change.

Especially considering he is the Patron to the Cricket of Zimbabwe.

When it comes to the fines I say not to pay and get Australia and England onside and if the International Cricket Asssociation bans us from international cricket well we play unofficial games, as if the three top teams in world Cricket are not going to pull crowds if that is what happens.

It will not be long before something happens to the Zimbabwe regime I fell anyway so New Zealand should be the leaders for once instead of sitting on the side lines like we do in nearly everything else.
Richard Ellmers

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No, the Black Caps should not go to Zimbabwe and no, NZ should not pay the ICC fine, as this goes straight to Mugabe as head of Zimbabwe cricket. It would be abhorrent for NZ to make a financial contribution to the coffers of this repressive regime.
Tania Domett