will cover:
- 8 Key Ideas and pictures
- glossary
- bibliography
- Podcast
Key Idea 1.1. The Tour was a catalyst for Nelson Mandela’s freedom and become the first democratically elected state president:
Nelson Mandela was freed from prison in February 1990 and inaugurated as the first democratically elected state president of South Africa on 10 May 1994. The 1981 tour was part of a long process that led to this significant change in South Africa, and in this respect, it represented New Zealand’s contribution towards a major international event in the closing decades of the 20th century.
Key Idea 2
The Tour become a Clash between the different groups of New Zealanders and changed the ‘good race relations’ New Zealand had:
For generations New Zealand prided itself on having the ‘finest race relations in the world’, but events during 1981 challenged this assertion. The protesters specifically attacked racism, and Māori increasingly joined the protests. As they did so, they confronted non-Māori New Zealanders with the question: ‘If you campaign about race in South Africa, what about at home?’ John Minto has recently stated that the tour’s greatest impact on New Zealand society was to stimulate debate about racism and the place of Māori in New Zealand. The tour also became a clash between the different groups of New Zealanders. They were split into five groups. They were:
- The struggle between baby boomers and war veterans
- City versus country
- Men versus women
- Black versus white
- Britain of the south’ versus independent Pacific nation
The tour become more controversial as time went by:
.
The tour was responsible for the decline in Rugby in New Zealand, until the first world cup:
The tour caused people to question their own views on apartheid:
This tour made us all think about what was acceptable of the time. The tour resulted in people questioning their own views on apartheid. People began to think that just because apartheid was ok 30 years ago doesn’t mean it’s acceptable now, and the tour challenged people’s beliefs regarding apartheid. It also caused a lot of discussion between New Zealanders and caused NZ society to discuss and debate apartheid. Some people just really liked rugby and just wanted to watch some matches, however this would then mean they were pro-tour, and pro-apartheid
Glossary!
The tour become more controversial as time went by:
The violence of a secret police training session was an indication of what was to come. It was June 1981. Six weeks before the arrival of the Springbok rugby team, elite riot police drilled at Papakura Army Base. They faced off against 70 chanting soldiers who were stand-in protesters. This was the feared Red Squad, being taught to wield long batons and the latest ways to break up crowd. Above all they show a police force and wider state apparatus squeezed between their political masters and protester rage that seemed to be accelerating by the day. “The intensity, organisation and determination of the protesters exceeded that which even we have foreseen, demanding a response well beyond original estimates,” police concluded in a 1982 internal review [2]. Walton also told rugby union chairman Ces Blazey that if policing the tour grew too onerous, “I may well have to approach him regarding the continuation of the tour. He [Blazey] accepted this proposition.”[2] However, even though the tour turned into a clash of cultures and groups, the tour still continued. The crack team donned riot gear and adopted tactics never seen in New Zealand before. Meurant says Red Squad, armed with long batons, "smashed, bashed and ploughed through thousands of protesters, passive and volatile alike," [1] to make sure the games went ahead. During this three-month time frame New Zealand witnessed unprecedented civil disorder. After the Hamilton disaster More than 1100 police were on hand in Palmerston North, compared with the 278 proposed at the outset of the tour. Auckland’s Red Squad was in full riot gear and held the line against demonstrators, many of whom were wearing helmets and padding. The new police tactics succeeded. Protesters failed to get anywhere near the grounds, and they were furious.
Many protest actions were used in the tour and many changes in protests occurred as a result of the tour:
The Red Squad was a crack team who donned riot gear and adopted tactics never seen in New Zealand before. For the first time protests in New Zealand became violent. The intimidating tactics were old-fashioned. To don riot gear and hack into the opposition with long batons had never been seen before in New Zealand. A full day was spent schooling police in the use of the distinctive PR24 long baton, including instruction in draws, spins, punches, chops, blocks, extraction, running arm-lock and handcuff arm-lock. The police were preparing for violent protests, not normally used in New Zealand. The Molesworth st protest was the most violent protest of all. Police chanted “Move, Move, Move” and assaulted protesters with short batons. Marchers in the front rows of the 2000-strong crowd were bloodied, to widespread public outrage. Police commissioner Bob Walton said “The baton business in Molesworth St, that was a turning point … it was a good thing that it happened when it did.”[1] These Molesworth St riots were indeed a turning point in New Zealand, in regards to protest movements, and the NZ police force. Demonstrators were often clubbed before they were arrested. The campaign here in New Zealand saw the largest popular mobilisations in the history of New Zealand protest movements.1981 was a historic year in the history of the New Zealand protest movement. The anti-springbok tour demonstrations of that year not only saw record numbers protesting on the streets throughout the country, but also saw a level of military rarely witnessed in this country over a period of months, commencing well before the springbok team arrived in the country, the anti-apartheid movement organised hundreds of rallies, organisational and educational meetings and intended to stop the tour and highlight the illegitimacy of the South African government.
There were disagreements within the parties, and the influence of Mr Muldoon was important.:
Many protest actions were used in the tour and many changes in protests occurred as a result of the tour:
The Red Squad was a crack team who donned riot gear and adopted tactics never seen in New Zealand before. For the first time protests in New Zealand became violent. The intimidating tactics were old-fashioned. To don riot gear and hack into the opposition with long batons had never been seen before in New Zealand. A full day was spent schooling police in the use of the distinctive PR24 long baton, including instruction in draws, spins, punches, chops, blocks, extraction, running arm-lock and handcuff arm-lock. The police were preparing for violent protests, not normally used in New Zealand. The Molesworth st protest was the most violent protest of all. Police chanted “Move, Move, Move” and assaulted protesters with short batons. Marchers in the front rows of the 2000-strong crowd were bloodied, to widespread public outrage. Police commissioner Bob Walton said “The baton business in Molesworth St, that was a turning point … it was a good thing that it happened when it did.”[1] These Molesworth St riots were indeed a turning point in New Zealand, in regards to protest movements, and the NZ police force. Demonstrators were often clubbed before they were arrested. The campaign here in New Zealand saw the largest popular mobilisations in the history of New Zealand protest movements.1981 was a historic year in the history of the New Zealand protest movement. The anti-springbok tour demonstrations of that year not only saw record numbers protesting on the streets throughout the country, but also saw a level of military rarely witnessed in this country over a period of months, commencing well before the springbok team arrived in the country, the anti-apartheid movement organised hundreds of rallies, organisational and educational meetings and intended to stop the tour and highlight the illegitimacy of the South African government.
There were disagreements within the parties, and the influence of Mr Muldoon was important.:
Prime Minister Sir Rob Muldoon unashamedly used the police in a cynical political initiative of dividing the nation over rugby to gain a marginal win at the polls on the support of conservative, rugby loving provincial electorates. One of the main reasons why Sir Rob Muldoon came into power was that he promised to bring the Springboks to NZ. Muldoon’s 1975 election promise to welcome a South African team helped him into Government. The 1973 tour had been cancelled, and in order to up his popularity and to give him the edge he needed to win, he was determined to let the tour continue, no matter what the cost. When the protest movement was ready to mobilise when the rugby union sent its invitation to the Springboks, Muldoon famously refused to intervene, saying “politics should stay out of sport”. Labour disagreed on having the Springboks tour New Zealand, as they were aware of the issues it would cause, and Labour had already cancelled the 1973 tour, so they were against the 1981 tour. Muldoon however was determined that the tour should still go ahead. This backfired really however, with many voters and support heading towards the labour party. At the next election National lost to labour, mainly due to the consequences of the tour.
The Tour divided friends and families, and split New Zealanders:
Opinion on social and political issues often differed sharply between the cities and the rest of New Zealand. From the 1960s new social patterns and attitudes developed in the main cities and amongst the university-educated, rather than in small towns and rural New Zealand. The controversial South African rugby tour of 1981 revealed deep rifts within New Zealand society. Opinion polls indicated that a majority of those questioned in the four main centres (as well as in some other cities, such as Palmerston North and Nelson) opposed the tour. In stark contrast, public opinion strongly favoured the tour in provincial centres such as Hamilton, Tauranga, New Plymouth, Whanganui, Timaru and Invercargill. For 56 days the country was bitterly, even violently divided. This was a controversial tour and the actions of police divided the nation, resulting in unprecedented civil disorder.
. The tour was responsible for the decline in Rugby in New Zealand, until the first world cup:
Some considered that for the first time in
history, rugby in New Zealand had become a source of embarrassment rather than
pride. After the Springbok tour, no official sporting contact took place
between New Zealand and South Africa until the early 1990s, when apartheid had
been repealed. The tour has been credited with leading to a decline in the
popularity of Rugby Union in New Zealand, until the 1987 Rugby World Cup. After
the Tour, no official sporting contact took place between New Zealand and South
Africa until the early 1990s, when apartheid had been repealed, and New Zealand
did have a slump in Rugby Union popularity. During this time Rugby League
became the more popular sport, and enjoyed much more attention.
The tour caused people to question their own views on apartheid:
This tour made us all think about what was acceptable of the time. The tour resulted in people questioning their own views on apartheid. People began to think that just because apartheid was ok 30 years ago doesn’t mean it’s acceptable now, and the tour challenged people’s beliefs regarding apartheid. It also caused a lot of discussion between New Zealanders and caused NZ society to discuss and debate apartheid. Some people just really liked rugby and just wanted to watch some matches, however this would then mean they were pro-tour, and pro-apartheid
Glossary!
Red
Squad: infamous riot-control group
which kept protesters at bay during the 1981 Springbok Tour.
Apartheid:
(South Africa) A policy or system
of segregation or discrimination on grounds of race.
PR-24
baton: it’s a standard aluminium baton with one-piece moulded polycarbonate Trumball stop handle and
is 24 inches long.
Podcast!
http://soundcloud.com/historygod/audio-recording-on-tuesday
Transcript for the Podcast!
http://soundcloud.com/historygod/audio-recording-on-tuesday
Transcript for the Podcast!
Hello
and welcome to our radio station History thru the ages on 91.6, the best
historical show out. Today it is July 22, 2011.
It is in fact 30 years to the day since the beginning of the Controversial 1981
Springbok tour. The Tour that Divided Families and Split New Zealanders, the
tour that made people question their own views on apartheid, and the tour that changed the protest system in New
Zealand. It was certainly a time in New Zealand history that we will never
forget, and that changed us forever. Over the next few minutes we will take a
step back in history and relive the Springbok tour of 81.
What a big moment in history that Tour was. It didn’t just
affect NZ, however. As an indirect result of this tour, South Africa was banned
by the International Rugby Board from international competition until such time
as apartheid ended. The
Springboks were readmitted to international rugby in 1992, and then went on to
win the 1995 Rugby World Cup, but that’s another Story!
So,
this tour was always called the ‘controversial tour’ and in fact as time went
on it became even more controversial. I will now tell all our listeners really
why this Tour was so controversial, and how it got more controversial as time
went by. The violence of a secret police
training session was an indication of what was to come. It was June 1981. Six
weeks before the arrival of the Springbok rugby team, elite riot police drilled
at Papakura Army Base. They faced off against 70 chanting soldiers who were
stand-in protesters. This was the feared Red Squad, being taught to wield long
batons and the latest ways to break up a crowd. Now it is important to remember
that protests before this tour were not like the protests in other countries,
New Zealand had never seen such viscous violence between police and protesters
before this tour, so this was really the start of a protest change in New
Zealand as well. The intensity, organisation and determination of the
protesters exceeded that which even the police had foreseen, demanding a
response well beyond original estimates of police numbers required. The police
were forced to use violent approaches and methods towards the protestors in
order to control them. The Red Squad donned riot
gear and adopted tactics never seen in New Zealand before. Ross Meurant the ‘face’ of the Red Squad said
that the Red Squad, armed with long batons, smashed, bashed and ploughed
through thousands of protesters, passive and volatile alike, to make sure the
games went ahead[2]. This had never happened before in New Zealand and during
this three-month time frame New Zealand witnessed unprecedented civil disorder.
Over this time the police made over 2000 arrests. Due to the violent nature of
the tour, it became increasingly controversial, and even in today’s time we are
still shocked by the actions that occurred during that tour.
Now, this tour had a massive impact on our country. Many protest actions
were used in the tour and many changes in protests occurred as a result of the
tour. Protests in New Zealand before had been relatively peaceful, normally
peaceful marches through the city. However this changed during the tour. The Red Squad adopted tactics never seen in New
Zealand before. For the first time protests in New Zealand became violent. The intimidating tactics were old-fashioned. To don riot
gear and hack into the opposition with long batons had never been seen before
in New Zealand. A
full day was spent schooling police in the use of the distinctive PR24 long
baton, including instruction in draws, spins, punches, chops, blocks,
extraction, running arm-lock and handcuff arm-lock. The police were preparing
for violent protests, and that’s exactly what they got. The Molesworth st
protest was the most violent protest of all. Police chanted “Move, Move, Move”
and assaulted protesters with short batons. Marchers in the front rows of the
2000-strong crowd were bloodied, to widespread public outrage. These Molesworth
St riots were indeed a turning point in New Zealand, in regards to protest movements,
and the NZ police force. Indeed 1981 was a historic year in the history of the
New Zealand protest movement. The anti-springbok tour demonstrations of that
year not only saw record numbers protesting on the streets throughout the
country, but also saw a level of military rarely witnessed in this country over
a period of months, commencing well before the springbok team arrived in the
country, the anti-apartheid movement organised hundreds of rallies,
organisational and educational meetings and intended to stop the tour and
highlight the illegitimacy of the South African government. There was
disagreement within the parties, during the time of the tour and the influence
of Mr Muldoon was important, he was a big player
in the tour. He unashamedly used the police in a
cynical political initiative of dividing the nation over rugby to gain a
marginal win at the polls on the support of conservative, rugby loving
provincial electorates. One of the main reasons why Sir Rob Muldoon came into
power was that he promised to bring the Springboks to NZ. Muldoon’s 1975
election promise to welcome a South African team helped him into Government. The 1973 tour had been cancelled, and in order to up his
popularity and to give him the edge he needed to win, he was determined to let
the tour continue, no matter what the cost. Labour, however disagreed on
having the Springboks tour New Zealand, as they were aware of the issues it
would cause, and Labour had already cancelled the 1973 tour, so naturally they
were against the 1981 tour. Muldoon however was determined that the tour should
still go ahead. This backfired really however, with many voters and support
heading towards the labour party after the disastrous tour. At the next
election National lost to Labour, mainly due to the consequences of the tour.
Perhaps
one of the main issues with this tour was the fact that it divided friends and
families, and split New Zealanders. Opinion on social
and political issues often differed sharply between the cities and the rest of New
Zealand. From the 1960s new social patterns and attitudes developed in the main
cities and amongst the university-educated, rather than in small towns and
rural New Zealand. The controversial South African rugby tour of 1981 revealed
deep rifts within New Zealand society. Opinion polls indicated that a majority
of those questioned in the four main centres (as well as in some other cities,
such as Palmerston North and Nelson) opposed the tour. In stark contrast,
public opinion strongly favoured the tour in provincial centres such as
Hamilton, Tauranga, New Plymouth, Whanganui, Timaru and Invercargill. For 56 days the country was bitterly, even violently
divided and friends and families who had differing views on the tour were split for
the duration of the tour.
This
was the tour that New Zealanders will always remember. It was burned in to our
memories, and the actions that people took were ones that will forever be
embedded in our minds. It didn’t just divide friends and families though: The
Tour also become a Clash between the different groups of New Zealanders and
changed the ‘good race relations’ New Zealand had. For generations New Zealand prided itself on having the
‘finest race relations in the world’, but events during 1981 challenged this
assertion. The protesters specifically attacked racism, and Māori increasingly
joined the protests. As they did so, they confronted non-Māori New Zealanders
with the question: ‘If you campaign about race in South Africa, what about at
home?’ John Mino has recently stated that the tour’s greatest impact on New
Zealand society was to stimulate debate about racism and the place of Māori in
New Zealand. The tour also became a clash between the different groups of New
Zealanders. They were split into five groups. They were:
- The struggle between
baby boomers and war veterans
- - City versus country
- - Men versus women
- - Black versus white
- - Britain of the south’ versus independent Pacific
nation
These groups of New Zealanders all had differing
views and opinions on the Tour, which led to the violent protests that occurred.
This
tour did not just split the country and change the protest systems: it also
reached into the very hearts of New Zealanders. It really caused people to
question their own views on apartheid. This tour made us all think about what
was acceptable of the time. The tour resulted in people questioning their own
views on apartheid. People began to think that just because apartheid was ok 30
years ago doesn't mean it’s acceptable now, and the tour challenged people’s
beliefs regarding apartheid. It also caused a lot of discussion between New
Zealanders and caused NZ society to discuss and debate apartheid. Some people
just really liked rugby and just wanted to watch some matches, however this
would then mean they were pro-tour, and pro-apartheid which could lead to
clashes between families and friends. They might not be pro-apartheid; they
just wanted to watch some rugby.
The
consequences of the tour were significant for Rugby Union in New Zealand. The
tour was responsible for the decline in Rugby in New Zealand, until the first
world cup in 1987.
Some considered that for the first time in
history, rugby in New Zealand had become a source of embarrassment rather than
pride. After the Springbok tour, no official sporting contact took place
between New Zealand and South Africa until the early 1990s, when apartheid had
been repealed. The tour has been credited with leading to a decline in the
popularity of Rugby Union in New Zealand, until the 1987 Rugby World Cup. New
Zealand had a decline in Rugby Union popularity after the tour. During this
time Rugby League became the more popular sport, and enjoyed much more
attention.
Perhaps one positive came from the tour. It bought worldwide
attention to apartheid and The Tour was a starting point for Nelson Mandela’s
freedom and become the first democratically elected state president. Nelson
Mandela was freed from prison in February 1990 and inaugurated as the first
democratically elected state president of South Africa on 10 May 1994. The 1981
tour was part of a long process that led to this significant change in South
Africa, and in this respect, it represented New Zealand’s contribution towards
a major international event in the closing decades of the 20th
century.
The tour of 81. Still
talked about today, and will never be forgotten. This tour changed a lot of
things in NZ that would probably not have changed, had the tour not taken place.
It changed the protest systems in NZ,
and overall changed New Zealanders. For 56 days this country was divided
in a bitter and violent battle, to stop a rugby tour between the Springboks and
the All Blacks. Thanks for listening and we will see you next time when we will
be discussing the fall of the Berlin Wall. Remember if you have a history topic
that YOU want to have discussed on the show, please call 0800history and we
will see what we can do. See ya!
Bibliography!
The rugby tour that split us into two nations. By Jared Savage and
Andrew Stone. Accessed: 12/6/12 3.
http://rdln.wordpress.com/2011/07/15/greater-even-than-rugby-the-1981-springbok-tour/
Don Franks: Greater
even than Rugby- the 1981 Springbok Tour Protests: Accessed: 9/6/12 4.
http://rdln.wordpress.com/2011/09/06/the-1981-anti-tour-protests-and-their-lessons-for-today/
John
Edmundson: The 1981 anti-tour protests
and their lessons for today. Accessed: 19/6/12
Official
Springboks fan site. Accessed: 21/6/12
