During the apartheid era in South Africa Springbok rugby players were chosen on the basis of race and Māori rugby players were at first not included in tours of South Africa. By the 1970s public protests and political pressure forced the New Zealand Rugby Union to include Māori when they played South Africa.
Prime Minister Robert Muldoon gave permission for a Springbok rugby tour of New Zealand in 1981. Twenty-one nations protested this breach of the Gleneagles Agreement by which the Commonwealth discouraged contact and competition with South African sport while apartheid policies remained in South Africa. There was increased external pressure from other african countries, as well as public protests in New Zealand.
The Prime Minister argued that as New Zealand was a free democratic country they could continue to visit. Some felt that he wanted to secure votes from rugby supporting rural conservatives in the general election that year.
During 1981 there was continuous public protest and outcry during this time. Public security was heightened and telecommunications services were disrupted due to vandalism at a TV microwave station. Two special riot squads were formed by the police to help control protestors during the tour. All spectators were required to be at the grounds one hour before kickoff after protestors, as in Hamilton a number of protestors had invaded the field, pulled the fence down and caused the game to be cancelled. Spectators then lashed out at the protestors. At Eden Park, the tour was cut short after flour bombs from a low flying light plane were dropped on the pitch.
After this tour the All Blacks did not tour South Africa again until the fall of apartheid. There was only an unofficial tour of South Africa by the "Cavaliers", and the proposed 1985 tour of New Zealand was cancelled. Also, rugby went through a brief drop in popularity. The All Blacks winning the first rugby World Cup in 1987 remedied this. In 1995 post-apartheid South Africa won the rugby World Cup, which included New Zealand.
Recommended resources
The Springbok rugby football tour of New Zealand 1981
This contains newspaper clippings from the events leading up to the arrival of the Springbok team, the tour and the aftermath.
Springbok Tour! Aotearoa People's movement newsletter, special edition: part 1 to 5, April 1980 to 18 July 1981.
This is an example of the many books and other material written about the tour and its effects. |
