The 1981 Springbok tour schedule (map)

The Springboks started their tour with a comfortable 24-6 victory over Poverty Bay in Gisborne.
Anti-tour protestors pulled down perimeter fences in an attempt to disrupt the game. Police and rugby fans prevented a full-scale pitch invasion.

The Springboks long awaited game against Ranfurly Shield holders Waikato, was called off in sensational circumstances in front of a full house at Rugby Park. A pitch invasion by several hundred anti-tour protestors and rumours that a light aircraft stolen from Taupō was headed for Rugby Park proved too much for the authorities. Police Commissioner Walton in the interests of public safety made the decision to cancel the match. Angry rugby fans kicked, punched and pelted protestors with bottles. Finally police had to escort the protestors to safety.

In seeking to avoid another pitch invasion police tactics for today’s game in New Plymouth aimed to keep protestors well away from the game. The Boks easily defeated Taranaki 34-9. The real action today was outside Parliament in Wellington. A protest march met a police blockade and things turned nasty when the police held their line by using their batons. As news of this was breaking many Kiwis were preparing to join a worldwide television audience of 750 million for the royal wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer.

In response to police use of batons outside Parliament on 29 July, many protesters arrived at the Palmerston North Showgrounds wearing crash helmets. Army sappers arrived in the early hours of the morning to help reinforce the perimeter fence with barbed wire. This did not stop significant protest action in and around the venue.
The Springboks defeated the defending Division One champions, Manawatū, 31-19.

The Springbok tour of ‘heartland’ New Zealand rolled into Whanganui today. The mid-week South African team comfortably defeated their hosts 45-9.
750 police were on standby but it was a quiet day on the demonstration front. A peaceful, silent protest was met by a minimal police presence.

From behind barbed wire, Southland fans watched their team go down 22-6 to the tourists in Invercargill. The wire is now a regular feature of ground security at tour venues.
The geographical spread of the tour presented the anti-tour movement with many challenges and local organisations have proved important in ensuring numbers are on the street come match day.

In the closest game of the tour yet, Otago was narrowly defeated 17-13 at Carisbrook in Dunedin today. This is the last provincial game before this weekend’s first test in Christchurch.
The bulk of those protesting are prevented from getting anywhere near the ground. However, a small group managed to get tickets to the game and unfurled an anti-tour banner (albeit upside down) before being ‘barged’ out of the southern gate by the police Red Squad.

The All Blacks won the first test at Lancaster Park, Christchurch, 14-9. This was the most significant game of the tour to date for both the players and protesters. Protesters blocked roads and motorways in Wellington, Auckland, Dunedin and Palmerston North. In Christchurch, protestors tried to breach the police cordon near Lancaster Park by approaching from different angles. Some managed to break through but failed to occupy the pitch. According to a member of the police’s Blue Squad, someone would almost certainly have been killed had the protesters been successful in their plans.

The midweek game scheduled for Timaru’s Fraser Park had been cancelled on 7 August, before the matches against Southland, Otago and the test in Christchurch. The police cited security concerns, but sports writer Don Cameron suggested that the game had been cancelled ‘so that the police could rest many of their over-worked force.’ The same could be said for the anti-tour protestors.

The Springboks received an early wake up call when a tuna bomb, a powerful firework used to stun fish, exploded near their hotel in Nelson. In addition to the obligatory protest march, some protestors also scaled the heights of Nelson Cathedral and draped a ‘Stop the Tour’ banner from the top.
On the field the Springboks were untroubled, walloping Nelson Bays 83-0.

More than just rugby was fought out today as the New Zealand Māori secured a valiant 12-12 draw against the visiting Springboks.
When the 'Boks played the Māori here in 1921 the South African players were shocked to see white fans cheering a non-white team. This time many Māori disapproved of their team playing the Springboks. A statement sent to the team commented:
“You are selfish in both attitude and action. As descendants of the indigenous people of Aotearoa, you trample over the indigenous people of Azania (South Africa) by collaborating with their oppressors.”

At Athletic Park today the tourists squared the test series with a convincing 24-12 victory.
7000 people gathered in central Wellington on the morning. Groups blocked the motorway exits into Wellington as well as road and pedestrian access to Athletic Park. Police formed wedges to allow rugby spectators through. There were many scuffles as protestors were dragged away. Some rugby fans lashed out at them with fists and boots. Police batons were used once more and the streets around Athletic Park resembled a battlefield.
Elsewhere there was disruption to television coverage.

Protesters occupied Rotorua airport in an attempt to disrupt the Springboks’ flight from Wellington. They were cleared from the runway before the flight landed, but managed to spray-paint BOKS GO HOME in three-metre high letters on the tarmac. None of the 35 marae in the region extended an invitation to the tourists and the Whakarewarewa thermal area was closed to the Springboks.
On the field Bay of Plenty went down narrowly 29-24.

The Springboks defeated Auckland 39-12 at Eden Park today.
Protest action that was more like street theatre delayed the start of the match. Porirua teacher and former vicar Geoff Walpole, disguised as a referee, walked onto the ground through several lines of security. In front of the puzzled official referee and Springbok Naas Botha, who was preparing to kick off, Walpole snatched the ball and punted it into the stands, inviting Ron Don of the Auckland Rugby Union to ‘Catch that if you can mate.’

North Auckland went down to the Springboks 19-10 in the tour’s penultimate match. Protest action is no more than nuisance value. With the final game and deciding test in Auckland only a few days away, it seems that the protesters are conserving their energy for one final fling.

The All Blacks secured the test series with a narrow 25-22 victory over the Springboks. But the day was better remembered for what happened outside of, and above, Eden Park.
While all hell broke loose outside the park, in the sky above Marx Jones and Grant Cole buzzed the ground in a Cessna 172, dropping flour bombs. One struck the burly All Black prop Gary Knight and knocked him to the ground. Springbok captain Wynand Claassen asked, ‘Do you not have an air force in this country? This was perhaps the only occasion when fatalities were a real possibility - not from the flour bombs but because of the ferocity of the violence in the streets.’