People stopped supporting rugby
The tour has been credited with leading to a decrease in the number of people supporting rugby and decline in popularity of the Rugby Union in New Zealand. The Springbok tour resulted in many people turning their support and participation from rugby to other sports such as soccor, cricket and rugby league. Families were now bringing up the younger generations to play in sports excluding rugby. There was a turning point in the history of New Zealand soccor in 1982 when the All Whites qualified into the FIFA World Cup even though it was not the countries number one code. It was a huge appearance for the All Whites as they played more games (15) and traveled further (55,000 miles) than any other team that qualified. The Football World Cup triggered a more rapid increase to the support of soccor and became a popular participation sport for all ages and both genders. It also meant that rugby was not as greatly seen as New Zealand's national sport during most of the 1980's. Although, this mentality changed after New Zealand hosted and won the first Rugby World Cup in 1987. This was a great achievement and turned peoples attention back to rugby.
Reference: 'Our People, Our Century' by Paul Smith and Louise Callan
Reference: 'Our People, Our Century' by Paul Smith and Louise Callan