The 1981 Springbok rugby tour
A country divided
All Blacks versus Springboks - 1981 Springbok tour
A long tradition of rugby rivalry
Politics and sport - 1981 Springbok tour
'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
Stopping the 1973 tour
Gleneagles Agreement - 1981 Springbok tour
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
1981: a divided New Zealand
Tour diary - 1981 Springbok tour
'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 could have 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.
