Main Event......
The Springbok Tour's official intention was to settle the sporting differences between NZ and the South African rugby team, the Springboks. But it was taken as NZ supporting apartheid- the whole team was white. Apartheid had existed in SA for many years, but now NZ was actually either supporting it or fighting against it. Mandela was in prison at the time, and when he heard that the Hamilton game on the 25th July had been cancelled (due to sabotage and safety fears) he was heard to remark `it was as if the sun had come out.'
Hamilton was the first and only game to be cancelled, but many more had been heavily policed, with protesters everywhere, and with fears that they would attack. On two occasions a light plane was stolen, once flour-bombing a game and hitting the NZ prop, Gary Knight. This prompted the SA captain to ask `whether NZ had an air force or not?' The police had to split into two squads- red and blue. Often protesters ended up on the wrong side of the police. Both had their hands full with angry protesters, and this occasionally led to claims of deliberate police violence. Most left out that they had provoked them in the first place. John Minto, Trevor Richards, and various others were the main troublemakers. They organized protests, crashed the games, and started organizations simply to annoy police and to stop the tours. They had names like HART (Halt All Racist Tours) and CARE (Citizens Association for Racial Equality.)
Hamilton was the first and only game to be cancelled, but many more had been heavily policed, with protesters everywhere, and with fears that they would attack. On two occasions a light plane was stolen, once flour-bombing a game and hitting the NZ prop, Gary Knight. This prompted the SA captain to ask `whether NZ had an air force or not?' The police had to split into two squads- red and blue. Often protesters ended up on the wrong side of the police. Both had their hands full with angry protesters, and this occasionally led to claims of deliberate police violence. Most left out that they had provoked them in the first place. John Minto, Trevor Richards, and various others were the main troublemakers. They organized protests, crashed the games, and started organizations simply to annoy police and to stop the tours. They had names like HART (Halt All Racist Tours) and CARE (Citizens Association for Racial Equality.)
The whole tour lasted 56 days, from May until September. The tour had started and ended at Auckland Airport, but the difference was that it started with police just relaxed, and concluded with the more police, riot gear, and surprisingly no more violence, just relief that this nationwide ordeal was finally over. NZ had basically been split in two over the biggest debate in years. Rugby had almost been forgotten in the light of politics.