He responded in a letter to the West Indies Cricket Board, saying, “I did not realize the deep feelings of the West Indian people on this issue of Rhodesia.” “If I had known or thought about these matters, I would never have gone to Rhodesia.”
Sobers retained the captaincy.
He wrote in his memoir that he received many invitations to play in apartheid South Africa but declined them all. In 1991, as racial segregation ended in the country, he briefly met Nelson Mandela, who named him and Bradman as his favorite cricketers.
Sobers called Mandela “truly a great man”. He condemned the discrimination that he and other black players had endured in Barbados as well as in England.
In 1975, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for his services to cricket at an open ceremony in Bridgetown, Barbados, which was reportedly attended by 50,000 spectators.
He was named as one of the 10 official National Heroes of Barbados in 1998. The Sir Garfield Sobers Sports Complex was built as a venue for major sporting and cultural events.
Sobers recalled, “There are people who claim I was destined to do well in life because I came into this world with two extra fingers, as if there was something mysterious about it.” “I wasn’t upset. They didn’t stop me in any way.”