Turning the pages back... July 29, 1976 (07/28/96)

Turning the pages back...

July 29, 1976

Following are excerpts of a story that appeared in The Gazette of Montreal 20 years ago, during the Summer Olympic Games of 1976. It was written by Bill Fox of Southam News Services.

The International Olympic Committee's ban on political demonstrations at Olympic venues has been circumvented by a human billboard.

A small but disciplined group known as the Ukrainian Olympic Committee (UOC) has been carrying its fight for an independent Ukrainian Olympic team to the playing fields of Montreal, much to the chagrin of the Soviet Olympic Committee.

The technique is simple enough.

Young men and women, each wearing a bright orange T-shirt emblazoned with a single letter of the Ukrainian alphabet, arrive singly or in pairs at the main stadium.

As they pass through the gates, they attract little or no attention from security personnel. For openers, who is going to make a big deal over someone wearing a T-shirt with one letter on it?

And for those unfamiliar with the Ukrainian alphabet, the letter could be mistaken for a fraternity house sign.

Once inside, the demonstrators go quietly to their seats - seats bought in advance, seats in a row. And when they stand to cheer the arrival of the Soviet team, there it is for a worldwide television audience to see: "Free Ukraine."

Robert Kerechinski, a Montreal resident and member of the UOC, said the idea of the human billboard evolved from a strategy worked out during the 1972 Canada-Russia hockey series.

Canada's Ukrainian leaders decided to have banners proclaiming Ukrainian independence hung from the balconies of the various arenas used during the series.

Television cameramen, assuming the signs were messages of encouragement for the Soviet hockey players, zoomed in on them during the games.

With worldwide television broadcasts of the Montreal Olympic Games, the UOC decided to repeat the tactic here.

"We aren't allowed to carry banners into Olympic events, but they could hardly object to some one wearing a T-shirt with one letter on it could they?" Mr. Kerechinski added.

The Soviet Olympic Committee did, when the demonstrators showed up at a football match during the Games' preliminary rounds.

Stadium management, on receiving the Soviet complaint, sent security officers over to talk with the demonstrators, "but they were at a loss what to do. They asked us to leave, and we asked for a written statement that it was against the law to wear T-shirts. There was a long discussion, but the game ended and we left the stadium," Mr. Kerechinski said.

The group was back Tuesday night for the semi-final match between the Soviet Union and East Germany, won by the latter 2 to 1.

Stadium security staff kept a close eye on the group throughout the match, but as assistant stadium manager Paul Bonnafe explained, the demonstrators were perfectly within their rights, as long as they remained in their places.

"When you buy a seat, you are entitled to certain privileges," Mr. Bonnafe said. "We would only act if the international football federation filed a formal complaint."

Two young men decided to take their protest one step further. Lubomyr Scuch, 20, was arrested at the Centre Claude Robillard after he refused to stop waving the blue-and-yellow flag of Ukraine.

According to a police spokesman, the young man was "agitating" the Soviet team. Russian officials invoked an IOC regulation that prohibits the waving of flags during events unless it's IOC approved.

Source: The Gazette (Montreal), July 29, 1976.

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