NZHistory.net.nz, New Zealand history online - springboks

Film: police and the first test - 1981 Springbok tour

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 12:00:00 +1200

The first test: Lancaster Park, Christchurch, 15 August 1981 (5mb)

Police view of events

Blue Squad member Pete Carrington describes the police experience.

Police in a 'no-win situation'

The All Blacks won 14–9.

The day was one of massive protest action around the country. In Christchurch the thrust of the protest was to spread the police cordon around the venue by coming at Lancaster Park from all angles. The goal was to occupy the pitch.

Some people have commented on the fact that it was miraculous nobody was killed during the tour, a sentiment echoed by Pete Carrington, a member of the Blue Squad. He believed that had protestors succeeded in occupying Lancaster Park that day, there would have been fatalities. Rugby supporters pelted protestors with blocks of concrete and full bottles of beer. Carrington maintained that the police saved the protestors from serious injuries and were not the enemy.

The 1981 Springbok rugby tour

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 12:00:00 +1200

A country divided

Anti-tour protesters at Palmerston North

All Blacks versus Springboks - 1981 Springbok tour

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 12:00:00 +1200

A long tradition of rugby rivalry

Politics and sport - 1981 Springbok tour

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 12:00:00 +1200

‘Politics and sport don’t mix’

In South Africa before 1948 the white minority enjoyed a privileged position, reinforced by a number of laws and practices that ensured there was extensive segregation of the races. When Daniel Malan’s Nationalist Party came to power that year, this separation was intensified with a policy known as ‘apartheid’ (‘apartness’ in Afrikaans) that aimed to strictly divide the races.

Stopping the 1973 tour - 1981 Springbok tour

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 12:00:00 +1200

Stopping the 1973 tour

Gleneagles Agreement - 1981 Springbok tour

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 12:00:00 +1200

From Montreal to Gleneagles

The All Blacks accepted an invitation to tour South Africa in 1976 – a time when world attention was firmly fixed on the republic because of the Soweto riots. Hundreds were killed as the authorities ruthlessly suppressed protests. An All Blacks’ tour under such conditions was not only intolerable to many New Zealanders but also attracted international condemnation. Black African nations boycotted the 1976 Montreal Olympics in protest, firmly putting sports and politics back onto the same stage.

Battle lines are drawn - 1981 Springbok tour

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 12:00:00 +1200

1981: a divided New Zealand

Opinion on the Springbok tour

Tour diary - 1981 Springbok tour

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 12:00:00 +1200

‘A war played out twice a week’

The Springboks were officially welcomed to New Zealand on the Poho-o-Rawiri marae in Gisborne (just as they had been in 1965) on 19 July 1981. Despite all the pre-tour rhetoric and debate, few anticipated that the country was about to descend into near civil war, ‘a war played out twice a week’ as the Springboks moved from game to game.

Impact - 1981 Springbok tour

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 12:00:00 +1200

Impact of the 1981 Springbok tour

A taste of things to come?

In Hamilton the protesters occupying the pitch had chanted, ‘The whole world is watching’. The same applied to New Zealand as a nation. Some believed the tour was an opportunity to address the issue of racism in New Zealand while showing solidarity with the oppressed black majority in South Africa.

Springboks vs All Blacks, 1956

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 12:00:00 +1200