Protests against the South African rugby team touring New Zealand divided the country in 1981. The Springbok tour was significant to New Zealander’s in many ways. However as opposition to apartheid grew in the decades prior to the 1981 Springbok tour, conflict began surround the apartheid policy in South Africa. History 1981 Springbok Tour: ... Timeline; Main Event ; Background; Timeline of the Tour . Because he was an anti-tour protester, he was verbally abused by supporters, officials and even rugby players themselves. Exactly 38 years ago today hundreds of protesters invaded Rugby Park in Waikato as the Ranfurly Shield holders prepared to take on the Apartheid South African Springboks. The background to the 1981 Springbok tour. Tuesday 19 July marks the 35th anniversary of the Springboks' arrival in New Zealand for the 1981 rugby tour. There were varied opinions on the Springbok team which was seen by some as representative of racism. Friendships and family relationships were harmed due to different perspectives on the tour. In 1981 the South African rugby team, the Springboks, came to tour New Zealand.They had toured before, but the South African apartheid system was causing increasing public outcry in New Zealand. Discover the reasons behind this civil disobedience, as well as the demonstrations, police actions and the politics of playing sports. They were determined to stand by their election promise which was to keep politics out of sport which a large number of other countries found impossible. When New Zealanders became aware of the harsh treatment the ‘Black’ Africans received due to the apartheid system that was implemented into South African society, many people sought to stop the tour. Students that day in Soweto marched down the streets setting fire to symbols of Apartheid, such as government buildings and businesses owned by white people, police were sent to form a line in front of the protesters. But even though lives were lost, for the black people of South Africa it was a success in showing the world how violent the white government was and how the Apartheid needed to be broken. The 1981 Springbok tour of New Zealand was a very significant event to New Zealand. This reflected the fact that both the Māori protest movement and anti-apartheid movement had developed significantly. So to prevent any chance of that happening, segregated schools were necessary. Dead bodies were found lying all over the ground, with over 600 hundred students killed and many more severely injured. It was easier to appoint Afrikaners with the more important roles in the government as they made up 60% of the white population in South Africa. Other police fired there guns at the crowd without any warning, this was followed by the rest of the squad as they took up their arms and began to shoot at the students. is a remarkable protest story told in the face of adversity, and a monument to a time when New Zealand was torn in two by the 1981 Springbok rugby tour. Despite this being the opening game of the tour, it was the clash between the anti- tour protestors and the pro-tour people that took center stage. 22nd July, 1981 First Rugby test. 19th July, 1981 Springboks arrive in New Zealand . When New Zealanders became aware of the harsh treatment the ‘Black’ Africans received due to the apartheid system that was implemented into South African society, many people sought to stop the tour. You were either for or against. 22nd July, 1981 First Rugby test. Prior to the All Blacks' tour of South Africa in 1960, 150,000 New Zealanders signed a petition supportin… A wide range of anti- tour protestors gathered, many from different unions and ethnic backgrounds. Due to on-going public interest, including a recent formal request made under the Official Information Act 1982 (OIA) by an historian, the NZSIS has decided it is appropriate to release some of its historical information surrounding the Springbok tour, and is making 10 documents available. Protest action at Molesworth Street, Wellington. A key cause of the protests at the 1981 Springbok Tour was increased opposition to the Apartheid regime.The Soweto riots in 1976, where police shot down peaceful student protests and killed more than 170 young people, were well-covered by media outlets and the international community was affronted with the violent realities of racial segregation and discrimination. This reflected the fact that both the Māori protest movement and anti-apartheid movement had developed significantly. New Zealand Protests-Springbok Tour 1981 Apartheid In South Africa “Where one was allowed to live and work could rest on such absurd distinctions as the curl of … In the 1960s and 70s, many New Zealanders had come to believe that playing sport with South Africa condoned its racist apartheid system. Collected below are classic documentaries on the tour and subsequent mass protests (Patu!, Try Revolution), anti-tour protest songs, and a doco on the All Blacks’ first post-apartheid tour of South Africa.There's also an excerpt from Tom Scott's 2011 Springbok tour drama Rage. Opposition to apartheid grew throughout the 1960s and 1970s which many ralllied against. These people were strongly against the tour, dividing New Zealand into those that were for the tour and those that wanted it stopped. 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