SHORTLY after learning of the withdrawal of Australia and New Zealand from the Rugby League World Cup, the former international athlete, Brendan Foster, was eulogising - on BBC Radio - about his achieving a bronze medal over 5,000 metres, at the 1976 Montreal Olympics. It was the proudest moment of his life.
It is doubtful, though, whether Foster would have been anywhere near a podium place, but for the massive withdrawal of African nations from those games.