Robert Muldoon
Muldoon was the 31st Prime minister of New Zealand and was in parliament from 1975 to 1984. Muldoon and the national government used the Springbok tour as a way to gain voters for the elections. He used the phrase “no politics in sport” which appealed to many New Zealanders especially those from rural parts. This phrase undoubtedly helped him win the 1981 election but ironically was his downfall in 1884. By 1984 he had gone against the 1977 Gleneagles agreement and with the country in a currency crisis, Muldoon had very little support. And after the tour New Zealand had a damaged reputation around the world and had to recover from the closest we had ever been to a civil uprising. Due to the position New Zealand was in it was not surprising in 1984 Labour won by a “landslide.” Sadly Muldoon died a year after leaving parliament. John Minto
This political activist had a major impact on the 1881 Springbok tour. He was the leader of HART and was at the center of many of the major protests across the country. He felt very passionate about the tour and because of his views at a protest in Hamilton he was severely assaulted. But this assault had little impact on his protesting he remained at the heart of all the protests and began wearing a hardhat. Since the tour Minto has continued to lead protests across the country, he is involved with the protest group Global Peace and Justice Auckland and the Unite Union. Minto is someone who has very strong opinions no matter the subject, Minto has even attempted to run for mayor! HART
Halt All Racist Tours was a protest group set up to protest against the 1981 Springbok tour. The group was set up by John Minto, Tom Newnham, and Trevor Richards and continued to oppose the racial injustice in South Africa until the apartheid was abolished in the 1990’s. HART merged with National Anti Apartheid Council just before the tour and helped create a larger group of people to protest during the tour. This group was heavily influential in raising awareness nationwide and internationally about the apartheid in South Africa and was instrumental in the organization of much of the protests in New Zealand. SPIR and WARD
The Society for the Protection of Individual Rights was formed in 1981 and was a group that provided an alternative to those of the protestors. Another group formed was War Against Recreational Dispute (WARD), they also opposed the tour protests. These groups did not necessarily support apartheid but felt that politics had no place in sport and so they attempted to ruin the tour protests and encourage the success of the tour. Police
The police played a major role in the tour and their actions have been long remembered in society. The tour was the first time that the police had been violent to New Zealanders and it shocked thousands around the country, they even organised specific squads to deal with protesters. The Red and Blue Squads were controversially, the first riot squads in New Zealand to be issued with riot helmets and long batons. In making preparations for policing the tour, police minister Ben Couch, himself a former All Black, believed that he and “the police were charged with the duty of upholding the law by maintaining order.” Tour matches had both a legal and a moral right to proceed in his view and the police were obliged to ensure that they were allowed to do so by using all lawful means at their disposal. In preparation for the 1981 tour the police set aside $2.7million for Operation Rugby to ensure the tour ran smoothly. The amount was grossly underestimated and eventually blew out to be in excess of $15million. NZRFU
The New Zealand Rugby Union (New Zealand Rugby), was formed in 1892 to administer the game of rugby union at the national level. The union was in charge of fostering, developing, administering, promoting and representing the game of rugby in New Zealand. The NZRFU now the NZRU organised and planned the 1981 Springbok tour and was responsible for it's going ahead. They saw the sporting contact with South Africa as just sport and did not believe in the political influence that sport could have at the time. The tour meant many of the public disliked the NZRU but there reputation was restored in the following tours as the All Blacks results “spoke for themselves”. The NZRFU also did not allow the All Blacks to tour South Africa until the apartheid was abolished in 1994, this helped improve their public image and our image as a nation. |
From top to bottom, Primeminister Muldoon, John Minto leading a chant during the 1981 tour, Protesters pull down a fence at...., a violent encounter between protesters and rugby supporters, and a confrination between police and protesters.
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