The 1981 Springbok tour "The tour that divided a nation"
Overview
Years of racial segregation and the apartheid regime had forced South Africa into international exile in the mid to late 20th century, with all other countries strongly discouraged from having any sporting contact with them. However rugby was and still is the main sport in New Zealand and South Africa were considered to be the All Blacks most formidable opponent and despite the controversy and a major split in opinion the New Zealand Rugby Union decided to proceed with the 1981 Springbok Tour of New Zealand. The government of Prime Minister Robert Muldoon was called on to ban it in view of the commitments under the Gleneagles Agreement, but decided not to interfere due to their public position of "no politics in sport". Anti-Springbok tour protesters argued that sport was not separate from politics, especially when New Zealand was up against a South African team selected on racial grounds. They felt that playing rugby against South Africa condoned apartheid. Some also saw the tour as an opportunity to address racism in New Zealand. Pro-tour supporters claimed that politics had nothing to do with sport and that the two areas should remain separate. Major protests against the tour occurred throughout the country. These anti-tour protestors were successful in stopping two games, in Hamilton and Timaru and even when games did get underway it was with great difficulty as these protestors had to be controlled. Games were also affected in different ways by these protestors such as the Eden Park test where flour bombs were dropped on the players below. These protests were amongst the most intense in New Zealand’s history however no deaths occurred. After the tour, no official sporting contact took place between New Zealand and South Africa until the early 1990s, when apartheid had been abolished.
The extent to which this event divided the nations is shown in this diagram.
“the Springbok tour caused such tension and stress that we could not live together in the same house and function as a family unit"
As you can see the nation was very much divided into two main opinions. Those who agreed with the tour and believed that rugby and politics should not mix, and those who very much opposed the tour because of the racial beliefs of South Africa. This very much polarised the nation and made the Tour of 1981, a tour that would be remembered not for the high quality rugby that was played but because of the protests that took place. This event was ultimately a turning point in the apartheid regime.