The duration of the 1981 Springbok tour
The tour was one of the most violent and controversial events in New Zealand’s history. For 56 days between July and September, New Zealanders were divided against each other in the largest civil disturbance seen since the 1951 waterfront dispute. More than 150,000 people took part in more than 200 demonstrations in 28 towns and cities. Approximately 1,500 were charged with offences and the Government spent 7.2million dollars on its tour defence. The tour divided the country and challenged the long-held national belief in the country’s peaceful race relations. The Springboks were officially welcomed in to New Zealand on the Poho-o-Rawiri marae in on 19 July 1981. Despite all the pre-tour debate, few anticipated that the country was about to descend into near civil war.
Schedule of the 1981 Springbok tour games
Wed 22 July
Sat 25 July Wed 29 July Sat 1 August Wed 5 August Sat 8 August Tues 11 August Sat 15 August Tues 19 August Sat 22 August Tues 25 August Sat 29 August Tues 2 September Sat 5 September Tues 8 September Sat 12 September |
SA 6-24
cancelled SA 9-34 SA 19-31 SA 9-45 SA 6-22 SA 13-17 NZ 14-9 cancelled SA 0-83 12-12 SA 12-24 SA 24-29 SA 12-39 SA 10-19 NZ 25-22 |
First game against Poverty Bay in Gisbourne on 22nd July was the opening game to the Springbok tour 1981. This was the day reality hit people that a racist South African rugby team was to play in New Zealand. Many people travelled from around the country, especially those apart of anti-protest groups such as COST, to protest against the opening match. The tour supporters and anti-tour protestors confronted each other in person for the first time. Protests were taking place on the streets surrounding the venue and anti-tour protestors managed to break through a perimeter fence but were prevented from occupying the field and disrupting the match.
Reference: '1981:The Tour' written by Geoff Chapple
Reference: '1981:The Tour' written by Geoff Chapple
On the 25th of July a the Hamilton Rugby Park saw both pro and anti tour supporters turn very militant. Around 4000 marchers took to the cities streets to their way to the rugby park. The protestors were divided into two groups based on weather they wanted to be apart of 'Operation Everest' ( to assault from outside the park) or apart of the run on to the field from inside the ground. Over 200 tickets were sold for this game to rugby supporters. As the Springbok's arrived in their bus, paint bombs were hurled at them by the protestors. At the park the protestors weakened the fence with wire cutters and invaded the ground. Approximately 350 of them linked arms at the halfway line. The police arrested about 50 protestors over a period of an hour, but were concerned that they could not control the rugby crowd, who were chanting "kill them, kill them" and were throwing bottles and other objects at the protesters. There were reports that a light aircraft (piloted by Pat McQuarrie) had been stolen from Taupo and was approaching the stadium. The game against Waikato was called off in front of a full stadium at the Rugby Park as it all proved to much for authorities. The protesters were ushered from the ground with the enraged rugby spectators lashing out at them. Groups of rugby supporters waited outside Hamilton police station ready to attack the arrested protesters after they had been released.
References: 'By Batons and Barbed Wire' by Tom Newnman and 'Our People, Our Century' by Paul Smith and Louise Callan
http://www.arts.auckland.ac.nz
The first test match in Lancaster Park, Christchurch was a massive day of protest. The protestors came to the Rugby Stadium at all angles to try and spread out the police cordon around the venue. They had the aim of occupying the pitch. One policeman who recalled the event said that it was ‘sheer luck’ that no one was killed that day. This was due to the violence used by both sides. Rugby supporters pelted protestors with blocks of concrete and full bottles of beer. Some protesters managed to break through a security cordon and a number invaded the pitch. They were removed and coerced to leave the stadium by security staff and spectators. A large street demonstration occupied the streets immediately outside the ground and confronted the riot police. The spectators were kept in the ground until the protesters had left to maintain safety.
On the 29th of July the Springboks defeated Taranaki in New Plymouth, but the real action that day occurred on Molesworth Street, outside Parliament in Wellington. Police used batons on anti-tour protesters for the first time and so this event became know as the "Molesworth Street Batoning". Up to 2000 anti-Springbok tour protesters were confronted by police who tryed to stop them proceeding their march up Molesworth Street. Because the the momentum of the marchers forced the police back, they saw this as a refusal to obey the law and a neccessary time to use weapons. Many of the front-line protestors were injured by the policemen.
On the 29th of August, the Springbok's game against the All Blacks was held in Wellington and was the second test match. About 7000 protesters gathered in central Wellington. They blocked the motorway exits into the city as well as road and pedestrian access to stadium. Police had to form pathways through the protestors for rugby supporters to enter the rugby park. The streets surrounding the ground resembled a battlefield as large protests occurred.
On the 29th of August, the Springbok's game against the All Blacks was held in Wellington and was the second test match. About 7000 protesters gathered in central Wellington. They blocked the motorway exits into the city as well as road and pedestrian access to stadium. Police had to form pathways through the protestors for rugby supporters to enter the rugby park. The streets surrounding the ground resembled a battlefield as large protests occurred.
The third test match in Eden Park, Auckland was a game when ‘all hell broke loose’. Fighting erupted in the streets surrounding Eden Park as protesters fought with police outside the grounds. The police were pelted with rocks and missiles. Around 10,000 protestors outside the stadium had clashed with riot squads. This left one of the bloodiest scenes of the tour. Some commentators argued that protestors were joined by opportunists who were just wanting to fight the police. Athough security around the stadium was the tightest it had been throughout the whole tour, the battle was taken to the sky above the Eden Park stadium. Marx Jones and Grant Cole hired a Cessna aeroplane and circled above the pitch for the duration of the game. Jones and Cole dropped flares and flour bombs in a bid to halt the game. However the game still continued.
Reference: http://www.rugbydump.com/2009/07/1020/the-flour-bomb-test-all-blacks-vs-springboks-1981
Reference: http://www.rugbydump.com/2009/07/1020/the-flour-bomb-test-all-blacks-vs-springboks-1981