As the England and Wales Cricket Board faces calls to cancel the England team's planned visit to Zimbabwe, we look back at some previous controversies

Egypt, Iraq and Lebannon boycott the Melbourne Olympics in protest at the Suez war. Spain, Switzerland and the Netherlands withdraw over the Soviet invasion of Hungary, and China pulls out in a continuing demonstration that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has recognised Taiwan.

1961

The Football Association of South Africa is suspended from Fifa for practising racial discrimination.

1964

South Africa is barred from the Tokyo Olympics.

1968

The United Nations general assembly calls for a boycott of all South African sports bodies that practise apartheid. The UN special committee against apartheid promotes the ban, but some nations and international organisations continue to maintain sporting links with the country.

South Africa refuses to allow in an England cricket team including Basil D'Oliveira, a South African-born black all-rounder, though this does not imperil South Africa's tour to England in 1970.

1970

South Africa is barred from the International Cricket Council (ICC). Meanwhile, England withdraws its invitation for the South African cricket team's summer tour after African, Asian and West Indian nations threaten to boycott the Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh.

1971

Australia cancels a South African cricket tour.

1976

Tanzania leads 22 African nations in a boycott of the Montreal Olympics after the IOC refuses to bar New Zealand from the Games for a rugby tour to South Africa.

1980

The United States, followed by West Germany and Japan, boycott the Moscow Olympics in protest at the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

1984

The Soviet bloc boycotts the Los Angeles Olympics in return.

1986

A British Lions rugby tour to South Africa is cancelled after protests.

1988

North Korea, Cuba, Ethiopia and Nicaragua boycott the Seoul Olympics.

1990

Mike Gatting leads the last English rebel cricket tour to South Africa.

1996

Australia and the West Indies refuse to play cricket World Cup games in Sri Lanka because of bomb blasts in Colombo.

2002

Months ahead of the 2003 World Cup in South Africa and Zimbabwe, controversy emerges over the prospect of England playing a match in Harare and there are calls for a boycott.