The 1981 South Africa rugby union tour of New Zealand (still known by many in New Zealand as The Springbok Tour) was a controversial tour of [[New zealand rules ] by the South Africa national rugby union team, known as "the Springboks". The South African government's policy of racial segregation polarised opinions and sparked controversy throughout New Zealand. The decision to proceed with the tour inspired widespread protests across New Zealand.
South Africa's policy of racial apartheid had made the nation an international pariah, and other countries were strongly discouraged from having sporting contacts with it. However, rugby union was (and is) an extremely popular sport in New zealand, and the Springboks were considered to be New Zealand's most formidable opponents. Therefore, there was a major split in opinion in New Zealand as to whether politics should interfere with sport and whether the Springboks should be allowed to tour.
Despite the controversy, the New Zealand Rugby Union decided to proceed with the tour. The government of Prime Minister Robert Muldoon was called on to ban the tour, in view of the commitments it had made under the Gleneagles Agreement, but decided not to interfere due to their public position of "no politics in sport". Major protests ensued, aiming to make clear many New Zealanders' opposition to apartheid and, if possible, to stop the matches taking place. This was successful in one case, but also had the effect of creating a 'law and order issue'. For many people the issue became whether a group of protesters could be allowed to prevent a lawful game of rugby taking place. The dispute was similar to that involving Peter Hain in the United Kingdom in the early 1970s, when Hain's Stop the Tour campaign clashed with the more conservative 'Freedom Under Law' movement championed by barrister Francis Bennion. The police response to the protests also became a focus of controversy. Although the protests were among the most intense in New Zealand's recent history, no deaths resulted.
After the tour, no official sporting contact took place between New Zealand and South Africa until the early 1990s, when apartheid had been repealed. The tour has been credited with leading to a decline in the popularity of Rugby Union in New Zealand, until the 1987 Rugby World Cup.
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The Springboks and New Zealand's national rugby team, the All Blacks, have a long tradition of intense and friendly sporting rivalry.[1] From the 1940s to the 1960s, the South African apartheid policies had an impact on team selection for the All Blacks: the selectors passed over Māori players for some All Black tours to South Africa.[2] Opposition to sending race based teams to South Africa grew throughout the 1950s and 60s. Prior to the All Blacks' tour of South Africa in 1960, 150,000 New Zealanders signed a petition supporting a policy of "No Maoris, No Tour".[2] The tour occurred however, and in 1969 Halt All Racist Tours (HART) was formed.[3] During the 1970s public protests and political pressure forced on the New Zealand Rugby Union (NZRU) the choice of either fielding a team not selected by race, or not touring the Republic.[2] However, South African rugby authorities continued to select Springbok players by race.[1] As a result, the Norman Kirk Labour Government prevented the Springboks from touring during 1973.[3] In response, the NZRU protested about the involvement of "politics in sport".
In 1976 the All Blacks toured South Africa, with the blessing of the then newly-elected New Zealand Prime Minister, Robert Muldoon.[4] Twenty-five African nations protested against this by boycotting the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal.[5] In their view the All Black tour gave tacit support to the apartheid regime in South Africa. The All Blacks again failed to win a series in South Africa (they would not do so until 1996, after the fall of apartheid). The 1976 Tour contributed to the Gleneagles Agreement being adopted by the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in 1977.[6]
By the early 1980s the pressure from other African countries as well as from protest groups in New Zealand, such as HART, reached a head when the New Zealand Rugby Union proposed a Springbok tour for 1981. This became a topic of political contention due to the issue of the sports boycott by the other African nations. The Australian Prime Minister, Malcolm Fraser, refused permission for the Springboks' aircraft to refuel on Australian territory en route to New Zealand.[7]
Despite pressure from activists for the New Zealand government (headed by Prime Minister Robert Muldoon) to cancel the tour, permission was granted, and the South African team arrived in New Zealand on 19 July 1981. Since 1977 Muldoon's government had been a party to the Gleneagles Agreement, in which the countries of the Commonwealth accepted that it was:
Despite this, Muldoon argued that New Zealand was a free and democratic country, and that "politics should stay out of sport."
Some rugby supporters echoed the separation of politics and sport.[8][9] Others argued that if the tour were cancelled, there would be no reporting of the widespread criticism against apartheid in New Zealand in the controlled South African media[citation needed]. Muldoon's critics, on the other hand, felt that he allowed the tour to go ahead in order for his National Party to secure the votes of rural and provincial conservatives in the general election later in the year, which Muldoon would go on to win.[10]
The ensuing public protests polarised the New Zealand population.[10] While rugby fans filled the football grounds, protest crowds filled the surrounding streets, and on one occasion succeeded in invading the pitch and stopping the game.[11]
To begin with the anti-tour movement committed themselves, by and large, to a programme of non-violent civil disobedience, demonstration, and direct action[citation needed]. In anticipation of this and as protection for the touring Springboks, the police created two special riot squads, the Red and Blue Squads.[12][13] These police were, controversially, the first in New Zealand to be issued with visored riot helmets and with what was then referred to as the long baton (more commonly the side-handle baton)[citation needed]. Some protesters were intimidated and interpreted this initial police fire power as overkill and heavy-handed tactics[citation needed]. After early disruptions, police began to require that all spectators assemble in sports grounds at least an hour before kick-off[citation needed].
At Gisborne on 22 July,[14] protesters managed to break through a fence, but quick action by rugby spectators and ground security prevented the game being disrupted[citation needed]. Some protesters were injured by police batons[citation needed].
At Rugby Park, Hamilton (the site of today's Waikato Stadium), on July 25,[14] about 350 rioting protesters invaded the pitch after pulling down a fence using sheer force. The police arrested about 50 of them over a period of an hour, but were concerned that they could not control the rugby crowd, who were throwing bottles and other objects at the protesters.[15] Following reports that a stolen light plane (piloted by Pat McQuarrie)[16] was approaching the stadium, police cancelled the match.[15] The protesters were ushered from the ground and advised by protest marshals to remove any anti-tour insignia from their attire, with enraged rugby spectators lashing out at them. Gangs of rugby supporters waited outside the Hamilton police station for arrested protesters to be processed and released, and assaulted some protesters making their way into Victoria Street.[17]
The aftermath of the Hamilton game, followed by the bloody dispersal of a sit-down protest in Wellington's Molesworth Street in the following week, in which police allegedly batoned bare-headed, sitting protesters, led to the radicalisation of the protest movement as a whole. Many protesters took to protests wearing motorcycle helmets, as a way of protecting themselves from head injury.[18][19]
The authorities too were forced to make concessions to the protest movement, strengthening security at public facilities after protesters disrupted telecommunications services by damaging a waveguide on a microwave repeater, disrupting telephone and data services, though TV transmissions continued as they were carried by a separate waveguide on the tower.[20] Army engineers were also deployed[citation needed], and the remaining grounds were surrounded with razor wire and shipping container barricades to decrease the chances of another pitch invasion. At Eden Park, an emergency escape route was constructed from the visitors' changing rooms to allow for the event that the stadium was overrun by protestors.[21]
At Lancaster Park, Christchurch, on 15 August,[14] some protesters managed to break through a security cordon and a number managed to invade the pitch[citation needed]. They were quickly removed and forcibly ejected from the stadium by security staff and spectators[citation needed]. However, a large, well coordinated street demonstration managed to occupy the streets immediately outside the ground and confront the riot police[citation needed]. Rugby spectators were kept in the ground until the protesters dispersed[citation needed].
During the final test match at Eden Park, Auckland on 12 September,[14] a low-flying light plane piloted by Marx Jones and Grant Cole disrupted the final game of the tour by dropping flour-bombs on the pitch. In spite of the flour bombing, the game was continued.[22] "Patches" of criminal gangs, such as traditional rivals Black Power and the Mongrel Mob, were also evident (interestingly enough, the Black Power were Muldoon supporters [23]). Footage was also shown of the Clowns Incident, where police were shown beating unarmed clowns with batons.[24]
There were, in fact, many peaceful protests around the country[citation needed], but sporadic violence attracted the press[citation needed] and led to the impression of a nation at war with itself.[14] The police, on the other hand, prevented the release of 'provocative' images (such as an officer on fire after being hit by a molotov cocktail).[citation needed] These images were, however, shown to policemen to 'motivate' them before the Auckland test[citation needed]. Perhaps because of this, the tour remained a bizarrely civilised breakdown of order[citation needed]. Neither side used firearms or tear gas[citation needed]. There were no deaths[citation needed]. Some of the more violent policemen were quietly disciplined[citation needed]. The many protesters who might have been charged with rioting were released, and others who, in another country, may have faced charges of attempted murder, sedition or treason[citation needed], were charged and convicted of relatively minor and unimportant[citation needed] disorder offences — or acquitted. Leaders of both sides went on to fill important roles in public life[citation needed].
Some of the protest had the dual purpose of linking alleged racial discrimination against Māori in New Zealand to apartheid in South Africa. Some of the protesters, particularly young Māori, were frustrated by the image of New Zealand as being a paradise for racial unity.[9] Thus it was seen as being useful by many opponents of what they saw as racism in New Zealand in the early 1980s to use the protests against South Africa as a vehicle for wider social action[citation needed]. However, there were many Maori who supported "The Tour" and attended games, as opposed it.[citation needed]
| Date | Venue | Team | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wed 22 July | Gisborne | Poverty Bay | SA 24-6 |
| Sat 25 July | Hamilton | Waikato | Match cancelled |
| Wed 29 July | New Plymouth | Taranaki | SA 34-9 |
| Sat 1 August | Palmerston North | Manawatu | SA 31-19 |
| Wed 5 August | Wanganui | Wanganui | SA 45-9 |
| Sat 8 August | Invercargill | Southland | SA 22-6 |
| Tues 11 August | Dunedin | Otago | SA 17-13 |
| Sat 15 August | Christchurch | New Zealand (1st Test) | NZ 9-14 |
| Tues 19 August | Timaru | South Canterbury | Match cancelled |
| Sat 22 August | Nelson | Nelson Bays | SA 83-0 |
| Tues 25 August | Napier | NZ Maori | 12-12 |
| Sat 29 August | Wellington | New Zealand (2nd Test) | SA 24-12 |
| Tues 2 September | Rotorua | Bay of Plenty | SA 29-24 |
| Sat 5 September | Auckland | Auckland | SA 39-12 |
| Tues 8 September | Whangarei | North Auckland | SA 19-10 |
| Sat 12 September | Auckland | New Zealand (3rd Test) | NZ 22-25 |
The Muldoon government was re-elected in the 1981 election losing three seats to leave it with a majority of one seat.
The NZRFU constitution contained much high-minded wording about promoting the image of rugby and New Zealand, and generally being a benefit to society. In 1985 the NZRFU proposed an All Black tour of South Africa. Two lawyers successfully sued the NZRFU, claiming such a tour would breach the NZRFU's constitution. The High Court stopped the All Black tour. The 1981 Springbok tour of New Zealand could arguably have been stopped by the courts: it is interesting that protest groups did not attempt such a remedy within the "system" in 1981.[citation needed] The All Blacks did not tour South Africa until after the fall of the apartheid régime (1990–1994), although after the official 1985 tour was cancelled an unofficial tour did take place in 1986 by a team which included 28 out of the 30 All Blacks players selected for the 1985 tour. These were known both inside and outside the Republic of South Africa as the New Zealand Cavaliers, but often advertised inside South Africa as the All Blacks or alternatively depicted with the Silver Fern.
Some considered that for the first time in history, rugby in New Zealand had become a source of embarrassment rather than pride.[citation needed] Six years later, however, the team won the Rugby World Cup, in 1987.[26]
The role of the police also became more controversial as a result of the tour.
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  | The 1981 Springbok Tour, including history, images and video (NZHistory) - The 1981 Springbok rugby tour | NZHistory.net.nz, New Zealand history online |
| | 'Politics and sport don't mix' - Politics and sport - 1981 Springbok tour | NZHistory.net.nz, New Zealand history online |
| | Stopping the 1973 tour - Stopping the 1973 tour - 1981 Springbok tour | NZHistory.net.nz, New Zealand history online |
| | When talk of racism is just not cricket - When talk of racism is just not cricket - Opinion - smh.com.au |
| | A time line and references - Puke Ariki - Resources - 1981 Springbok Tour |
| | On This Day 17 July 1976 - BBC ON THIS DAY | 17 | 1976: African countries boycott Olympics |
| | 1981: A Country At War - Film and Video Listing: Film Archive Reference Catalogue |
| | Posters at Christchurch City Libraries - 1981 Springbok Tour - Poster Collection - Heritage - Christchurch City Libraries |
| | "Riot Squad" - The Newmatics | Artists at muzic.net.nz |
| | Eden Park revamp uncovers secret escape route - Eden Park revamp uncovers secret escape route - National - NZ Herald News |
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