Pages tagged with: south africa

For 56 days in July, August and September 1981, New Zealanders were divided against each other in the largest civil disturbance seen since the 1951 waterfront dispute. The cause of this was the visit of the South African rugby team – the Springboks.

The mid-century decades brought more mass participation in sport, the consolidation of many national competitions, and greater achievement at international level.

The South African War of 1899-1902, often called the Boer War (sometimes the Second Boer War), was the first overseas conflict to involve New Zealand

Since rugby went professional in 1995 countries like Australia, England and France have challenged New Zealand and South Africa's claims to be the two powerhouses of world rugby.

South Africa's apartheid policies and attitudes created obvious problems for New Zealand rugby, given the prominence of Maori in the sport.

A 1959 poster urges New Zealanders to oppose the exclusion of Maori from the All Black team to tour South Africa in 1960.

Keeping sport and politics separate was becoming increasingly difficult. In July 1969 HART (Halt All Racist Tours) was founded by Auckland University students with the specific aim of opposing sporting contact with South Africa.

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.

The tour supporters were determined that the first Springbok visit to New Zealand since 1965 would not be spoiled. The anti-tour movement was equally determined to show its opposition to it.

Itinerary of the 1981 tour by the Springbok rugby team

In Hamilton the protestors 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 racism in New Zealand and show solidarity with the oppressed black majority in South Africa.

Although the call for 'No Maori – No Tour' gained momentum after 1960, how South Africa selected its team was widely regarded as its business.

The Citizens' All Black Tour Association, of which Ngai Tahu leader Frank Winter was a prominent member, campaigned to stop the selection of a racially based All Black touring team with the slogan 'No Maoris – No Tour'.

General Joubert's unit of Boer soldiers and their African servant stop for lunch at Newcastle, Natal, less than a week after war was declared in 1899. Several of the soldiers are leaning against Dr Visser's travelling medical wagon.

In 1976 New Zealand was at the centre of a furore that undermined the Montreal Games.

Statue of Dr Danie Craven, South Africa’s ‘Mr Rugby’

The Cavalier tour of South Africa took place in 1986.

One of the most memorable and poignant moments in New Zealand cricket history occurred on 26 December 1953, just two days after the Tangiwai rail disaster.