springbok tour games 1981

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Te matapihi ki te ao nui, te haerenga a ngā piringa pāka ki aotearoa i te tau 1981 the 1981 springbok tour of new zealand.

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The rivalry between the Springboks and the All Blacks is one of the longest and most enduring between two sporting nations. In the past, generations of rugby players and enthusiasts from both countries viewed a series victory over the other nation as being the pinnacle of achievement in the sport. Alongside the history of fierce competition went a tradition of hospitality towards the visiting side.

In 1956 and 1965 when the South African rugby team toured New Zealand, they were showered with warmth and generosity wherever they went. Yet 25 years later, the 1981 Springbok tour became one of the most divisive events in New Zealand history.

Its impact went far beyond the rugby ground as communities and families divided and tensions spilled out onto the streets and into the living rooms of the nation. What were the events that made this tour so significant? What motivated ordinary Kiwis to take such extraordinary action against one another?

Although things had been far from perfect between my parents, the Springbok tour caused such tension and stress that we could not live together in the same house and function as a family unit. An example of the increase was when we, as a family, watched the evening news. Often one side would raise their voices in abuse and offensive name calling towards public figures. Later the abuse was turned in an indirect way on individual family members. This was done by blaming the chaos and disruption to rugby games in individual family members, their friends and associations. As the tour went on and the turmoil increased, the negative feelings intensified to such as degree that feelings of dislike, anger and incomprehension dominated our home. It's Just a Game (anon), in, The New Zealand Experience : 100 Vignettes, collected by B. Shaw & K. Broadley, 1985 .

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Central library closure — collection availability.

Unfortunately much of our heritage collection is currently not available through our online catalogue — because of the closure of the Central Library, much of this collection is in storage. We hope to make it available again soon, but in the meantime, we suggest visiting the National Library of New Zealand in Thorndon (Corner Molesworth & Aitken St) to access these book titles and newspaper resources.

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Newspaper articles

Unfortunately, contemporary newspaper accounts of the Springbok Tour from 1981 fall into a time period where newspapers are generally not even indexed for searching, let alone available in full text online — see our finding historical Wellington newspaper articles resource.

That being said, information about (and sometimes the full text of) many anniversary accounts (10 years, 20 years later etc.), can be found online (see Online databases below) — and contemporary accounts can be accessed on microfilm if you know approximate dates (we've provided a table of key dates below).

Finding Historical Wellington Newspapers

Tip: Remember that many reports will not appear in newspapers until the following day.

Magazines — online databases

Our online databases can also be used to access a large number of articles about the tour which have previously been published in magazines . Though the databases do not go back as far as 1981, they do contain many retrospective articles written since then.

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• New Zealand databases
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To access contemporary accounts of the Springbok Tour in magazines, we recommend visiting the National Library on Molesworth Street (see collection note above).

To find magazine titles of interest, have a read of the article below:

Story — Magazines and periodicals in New Zealand

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Remembering the 81′ Springbok Tour

40 years on, we look back and talk to two Wellington residents who remember those turbulent times.

“All for the sake of a Rugby game. Doesn’t make sense does it?” – Liz Roberts

During the winter of 1981, violent clashes between rugby supporters, protesters and the police erupted all over Aotearoa in one of our country’s most tumultuous periods. The Springbok rugby tour brought us to the brink of civil war, as many protested the racial segregation of Apartheid South Africa and made links to racism at home.

On the 29th of July, 1981, protesters opposing the Springbok Tour were met by baton-wielding police trying to stop them marching up Molesworth St to the home of South Africa’s Consul to New Zealand.

This was the first time police had used batons against protestors, and the violence horrified many New Zealanders. Former Prime Minister Norman Kirk’s prediction eight years earlier that a tour would result in the ‘greatest eruption of violence this country has ever known’ seemed to ring true.

Wearing helmets like this one, 7000 protesters gathered in central Wellington and around Athletic Park on 29th of August 1981 to stop pro-tour supporters from gaining access to the second test match. Once again the police intervened, this time using long batons, with many protesters injured as a result. This helmet was worn by Anne Bogle during other anti-tour protests.

The Merata Mita Estate permitted us to use the Wellington footage from PATU! (1983) – the powerful documentary directed by Merata Mita which shows the harrowing events of the 1981 Springbok Tour.

Ngā Taonga Sound and Vision meticulously restored and preserved the original documentary for the 40th anniversary. With their approval, we were able to use their newly restored and remastered version for these videos.

Liz Roberts lived on Te Wharepōuri Street in Berhampore, close to Athletic Park, and recalls the events of the 2nd Test on August 29th, 1981, where she saw protesters clash with Police on her street.

Anne Bogle was a young Victoria University student studying Law and History in 1981 – and attended a number of Anti-Tour protests in Wellington – she took part in the protest group that blocked the Wellington Motorway on July 25th and the infamous Molesworth Street incident a few days later on July 29th. The protester helmet she used during the anti-tour demonstrations is currently displayed at Wellington Museum.

Thank you to the Merata Mita Estate for their permission to use parts of the film and also to Ngā Taonga Sound and Vision for their great mahi on the preservation and restoration of this important piece of film taonga .

Also thank you to Anne Bogle and Liz Roberts for sharing their stories.

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"I hope that common sense will prevail." – Sir Michael Fowler, Mayor of Wellington, 28th August 1981 From 22 July – 12 September 1981 the South African Rugby Union team (known as the Springboks) toured New Zealand playing 14 games. Due to the South African governments policy of apartheid, the tour was marred by protests and police violence. The All Blacks and the Springboks had been fierce rivals since their first face-off at Athletic Park in 1928, and rugby had since become New Zealand’s national identity. But at the same time, South Africa’s system of racial apartheid had grown unacceptable to many people in New Zealand and overseas. Wellington was a focal point for much of the anti-tour movement during 1981 tour. The Mayor and many of the City Councillors came out against the tour, and several attempts were made by Council to prevent a test match in the City. Protesters clashed with police during a protest on Molesworth Street leaving many battered and bloody. When they next met outside Athletic Park on the day of the test, the protesters came prepared with helmets and shields. The Springboks left New Zealand following their final game in Auckland and would not return until 1994 and the dismantling of apartheid. Linked below are photos of anti-tour posters and pamphlets taken by the City Photographer, as well as a considerable amount of correspondence to and from Mayor Fowler via the Town Clerk's Department. The featured minute book contains City Council meetings related to the tour on pages 207-208 (images 286-287) and 221-222 (images 300-301).

Copy: Abortion, Apartheid, Unions, Nuclear (posters, handouts, protests)

Notice of motion: Springbok Rugby Tour, REDACTED

Volume 102, REDACTED, Minutes of meetings of the Wellington City Council 5 Jun 1981 to 11 Nov 1981

The Spinoff

Ātea December 28, 2021

Three things you didn’t know about the 1981 springboks tour.

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Summer read: This year marked the 40th anniversary of the rugby tour that divided a nation. While countless books and articles have been written about that time, some important details have faded with age. Leonie Hayden looks back at three of them.

First published July 22, 2021

Merata Mita’s documentary Patu! opens with a group collecting signatures on the street in Auckland to petition the government to stop the upcoming Springboks’ tour of New Zealand. A young passer-by starts arguing with the organisers, asking how would they feel if a group of “wogs” or “Blacks” came over here. One group member explains that she’s married to a Black South African man. Undeterred, the man continues his tirade about what would happen if “they” were in charge.

It’s 1981 and Mita’s grainy film footage captures one of those most divisive periods in our history since the New Zealand Wars. It was a battle that played out on the rugby field, in the streets, within the halls of parliament and at kitchen tables all over the country. But the fight for New Zealand to take a stand against South Africa’s apartheid regime was far from new.

The New Zealand Rugby Football Union had left rugby legend George Nēpia and other giants of the game at home in 1928 to conform with South Africa’s segregation laws. In 1959, the Citizens’ All Black Tour Association had tried to demand “No Maoris, no tour” when Māori players were excluded from the team’s 1960 visit. They weren’t successful then, but Māori players would go on to tour South Africa as “honorary whites” in 1970 and then in 1976 – the same year as the Soweto uprising that saw hundreds of children and student protestors murdered by police.

While Robert Muldoon campaigned on sports and politics being kept separate, deftly side-stepping the Commonwealth members’ Gleneagles agreement , the world had very much decided the two were connected. Black African nations boycotted the 1976 Montreal Olympics in protest of our ongoing engagement with South Africa. New Zealand was becoming a pariah.

And so when the 1981 tour was announced, anti-apartheid groups such as Halt All Racist Tours (HART), Citizens Association for Racial Equality (CARE) and the Patu Squad (led by Hone Harawira, Donna Awatere, Josie Keelan and Ripeka Evans) began a national campaign to stop it in its tracks.

Ultimately, the demonstrations and petitions to Muldoon’s government – plus a national poll showing only 46% public support for the tour – fell on deaf ears and the South African team were officially welcomed to New Zealand at Te Poho-o-Rawiri marae in Gisborne on July 19, 1981.

Tā Graham Latimer’s wero

It was a pōwhiri with teeth.

The welcome for the Springboks took place at the same time as Māori activists were spreading glass across Gisborne’s Rugby Park ahead of the first game. The speakers that evening comprised Te Poho-o-Rawiri kaumātua, dignitaries of the Tairāwhiti Māori council, and the president of the New Zealand Māori Council, the late Sir Graham Latimer .

To many the welcome would have looked like a sign of a generational divide – conservative assimilationists on the marae versus activists on the field – but Latimer ensured the pōwhiri wasn’t an occasion that ignored or played down what was at stake. In fact, he very politely told Springboks captain Wynand Claassen and his team they wouldn’t be welcome again while apartheid remained in South Africa.

Per tradition, it was Latimer’s role as the New Zealand Māori Council president to extend a greeting to any international group being welcomed onto a marae. The speaker before him, Tom Fox, had emphasised with some pride, and to much applause, that the Tairāwhiti branch was the only Māori council that actively supported the tour.

Latimer, however, was less effusive. “I am fully conscious of the fact that I do not have a complete mandate to make this welcome,” he began. “Seven out of the nine district councils that make up the New Zealand Māori council are opposed to the tour, and one is undecided.” A long pause, silence from the crowd.

“Fifty-four per cent of the general public of New Zealand has expressed opposition to your tour. That’s in a poll. The last time such a tour was mooted, only 16% were against the tour. That you have come has been seen by some as a major victory but it must be recognised that if there were only another 6% against the tour, there would be neither a political party not a rugby union game enough to extend an invitation to you.”

He continued: “There can be no doubt in my mind that we will not be making another such welcome on a Māori marae – I emphasise that point – unless your government can show it is prepared to change its policies on apartheid. We hope we can look forward to a time in the not too distant future when you could be welcomed on any marae. It would be a pity if this could be looked upon as the last international tour by South Africa.”

Latimer finished by giving an especially warm mihi to Errol Tobias, the first player of colour to tour with the Springboks. “I believe he represents hope for 18 million South Africans, for whom there appears to be little hope.”

The genius of Latimer’s challenge was in its statesmanlike delivery. While much of his speech was received with (presumably) shocked silence, he was still rewarded with a huge round of applause at its conclusion, even though he had just told those gathered they would not be welcome in future under the same circumstances. The extraordinary recording of that evening, housed in the Ngā Taonga archive , captures a mild-mannered assassin executing an entire squad with diplomacy.

Naturally we have no way of measuring the effects of that speech on either the Springboks or apartheid. But it may have been the last time the issue was discussed politely.

Police violence was far worse than they’d like you to remember

Nicknamed the Day of Shame, July 22 saw the Springboks’ opener against Poverty Bay. Three hundred protestors marched to Rugby Park in Gisborne via a nearby golf course and attempted to breach a fence. Rugby fans jumped into action and a brawl broke out between the two groups. Police arrived to break up the fighting, and only two men managed to run onto the field. Thirteen were arrested and many were hurt in the resulting brawl, but it was nothing compared to the violence that was to come.

Over the course of the next two months, police, in particular the infamous Red and Blue riot control squads, would become more and more comfortable with using extreme violence against unarmed protestors, causing serious and sometimes permanent injuries. Pro-tour rugby fans were also brutal in their retaliation.

Singer and journalist Moana Maniapoto, then a first-year law student at the University of Auckland, remembers when the fence came down at the second game in Hamilton on July 25. “Everyone’s leaning on it, pushing and pushing it, and then the next minute the fence came down and you just heard this ‘Run!’ You’re just swept along. So then I’m in the middle thinking, ‘what am I doing here? They’re gonna kill us!'”

She recalls looking up at thousands of angry faces in the stands. “They were totally rabid. Screaming, yelling and throwing cans of beer at us.

“The police arrived, just the ordinary cops, not the Red Squad, and I actually thought, ‘oh this is good, surely they’re not gonna let us get murdered’. Then the commissioner came on and said the match has been called off and there was this huge roar from the crowd. At first it was like, ‘yay!’ and then ‘oh my god. How the hell are we gonna get out of here?’”

Maniapoto, along with land protector Eva Rickard and another friend, managed to escape into the surrounding streets. “The cops were sporadically placed so you had to make a run for it to the gate. Then the cops recognised Eva and they were abusing the shit out of her. But we got out, and we were very lucky, my friend’s father heard on the radio that the match had been cancelled and he circled until he found us. A lot of people got attacked.”

Marx Jones and Grant Cole flour bomb Eden Park in a hired Cessna. 

She would go on to attend protests in Rotorua and at the third test in Auckland – the latter resulting in a violent clash between police, protestors and rugby fans on the streets of Mount Eden. “Red Squad came out of nowhere and nutted off at everyone. I was with the least militant bunch when they charged. We were just standing there. Couldn’t believe it. I was batoned, kicked by heavy police boots while on the ground. Shock for a young freshie like me. They just smashed into us and left people lying on the ground in their wake.”

For further proof you need only watch the violence through Mita’s lens. The dull thud of police batons hitting flesh and human skull, and the wails of the injured, some of them young teenagers, is the haunting soundtrack for nearly half the film.

Maniapoto scoffs at the selective memory that it was “New Zealand” who took a stand against apartheid. “It’s held out as a landmark, framing New Zealand as a global social justice advocate. It wasn’t New Zealand; it was people power. It was activists, people from across all walks of life, and there were far fewer of us than there were in the stands.”

She talks abut the Nelson Mandela exhibition hosted at Eden Park in 2019 – a strange venue considering the violence that played out on the surrounding streets 38 years earlier. She says at the launch none of the speakers from the New Zealand Rugby Union came close to admitting they’d been wrong, or offering an apology. Instead everybody spoke proudly about the stand taken by the protestors. Says Maniapoto: “They’re starting to rewrite the history!”

The good bishop saves the Patu Squad

It was at the last test at Eden Park on September 12 that a young Hone Harawira, one of the leaders of the predominantly Māori and Pasifika Patu Squad, was finally caught.

Harawira and a handful of others had been arrested at Waitangi earlier in the year, and although they had been denied bail, they were turfed out of the cells for causing a ruckus and told when to attend their court date. They didn’t show up.

The group had outstanding warrants for their arrest before the tour even began.

“It must have got out to the police that we were all going to be involved in the tour, and one by one we were all picked up. One of the brothers, they got him before it started! So he spent the whole of the tour in Mt Eden,” Harawira chuckles.

Harawira says he was caught early on after the test that ended with Marx Jones’ aerial flour bomb attack , so hadn’t been involved in the upturning of a cop car, or the violence that erupted on an unprecedented scale outside Eden Park. Nevertheless, Harawira was charged with the assault of a police officer who’d had both collar bones broken.

“It wasn’t me but they wanted someone to pin it on so they pinned it on me.”

He says he had seven charges against him. “They were serious charges. Three charges of participating in a riot and four charges of assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. Which all carried a total of something like 98 years.”

Justice being neither blind nor in a hurry, Harawira wouldn’t stand trial for another two years, alongside many others who he notes were mostly brown, despite the vast majority of protestors being Pākehā. “Most of them were members of the Patu Squad.”

As he had many times before, Harawira planned to defend himself in court. He’d had University of Auckland law lecturers Jane Kelsey and David Williams to rely on for advice, but this time he wasn’t sure it going to be enough.

“The day before my court date, I’m sitting out the back in the cells thinking ‘jeez, what am I gonna do?’ Then the brain wave came to me. Bishop Desmond Tutu had been invited over by the Anglican church to come and do a speaking tour. Interest was still very high in apartheid South Africa. My mum knew George and Jocelyn Armstrong, who were part of the organisation that brought him over.

“So I rang my mum and said look, I want Bishop Tutu as a witness. She said, ‘He wasn’t there!’. I said, ‘that doesn’t matter! I want him for my witness’. So she said ‘OK when is it?’ And I said ‘Tomorrow! I’m gonna need him by about 10.30.’”

The next day Harawira and 10 others prepared to stand trial.

When the time came for him to give his defence, his star witness wasn’t there. “I read my statement. I’d come to the very end and I was dragging it out. I didn’t want to get out of the dock ‘cos I knew it hadn’t been enough to get me off. Then the door burst open, and someone looked at me with a big smile and just nodded and I knew then. So I asked the judge: ‘Can you please call my witness?’”

Harawira still laughs at the memory of the stunned faces of the judge, prosecution and jury as as the now-Archbishop Desmond Tutu, in his signature dark suit and purple cleric’s shirt, walked into the courtroom.

“And then I’m thinking, ‘What the fuck, now what do I do?’

“So he takes the stand and I go, ‘Could you please tell the court your name?’ And then I said, ‘Can you please tell the court your address?’ And he gave an address in Soweto. Instantly, if the room wasn’t already charged, everyone was completely wide-eyed now.

“And then I said, ‘Can you please explain to the court what apartheid is?’. And away he went. He must have spoken for 20 minutes. It was absolutely stunning. You could have heard a pin drop.”

He says that after Tutu had finished, neither he nor the prosecution could think of any more questions.

“As Bishop Tutu stepped out of the dock, all 11 defendants, we all stood up. Then our lawyers stood up, then the public, the screws from Mount Eden, the police stood up, then the jury stood up. Half of them were in tears. If was one of those moments. I knew right then and there we were gonna get off.” He crows in delight at the memory.

The group were acquitted of all charges.

“It’s kind of hard to believe but it’s all true. Meeting Nelson Mandela himself and going to his tangi, that’s another story.”

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Weekend Rewind: The 1981 Springbok Tour, 35 years on

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Anti Springbok tour protesters at Auckland International Airport protesting the arrival of the South African rugby team in 1981. Photo / File, NZ Herald Archive

On July 19 1981, the South African rugby team arrived in New Zealand, dividing the nation, and sparking 56 days of major civil unrest (along with years of subsequent fallout.) More than 200 demonstrations took place throughout the country, with over 150,000 people taking part. Clashes between tour supporters and protesters, and protesters and police, became increasingly frequent and violent. Not surprisingly, many of our film and television makers felt it important to document and interpret events.

Directed by Merata Mita, Patu! Is both a landmark in New Zealand's film history and a startling record of the tour. Made on a shoestring budget, with the aid of several volunteer camera people (among them Roger Donaldson), it still holds up as a standout piece of activist filmmaking. The documentary profiles the anti-tour campaign, capturing highly charged footage of the clashes. While filming, stock was shifted around and, at times taken out of, the country, as the production team went into hiding to prevent the police from hijacking the editing process.

Watch Patu! here:

Made for the 25th anniversary of the tour in 2006, the documentary Try Revolution examines the impact of the tour in South Africa, showing how events in New Zealand poured shame on the apartheid regime, and helped provoke democratic change. As quoted from Archbishop Desmond Tutu: "You really can't even compute its value, it said the world has not forgotten us, we are not alone."

Watch an excerpt from Try Revolution here:

Landmark documentary series Revolution mapped the social and economic changes in 1980s New Zealand. Touching on the political ramifications of the tour, it highlights then Prime Minister Robert Muldoon's refusal to intervene in its go-ahead, and the effects of his decision on the National Party. Writer CK Stead reflects on the tension of the on-field protest that stopped the tour's Hamilton game.

See part two of Revolution for coverage of the tour:

1982 one-off drama The Protesters explores issues surrounding race and land ownership in the aftermath of both the tour and the occupation of Bastion Point. Starring Billy T James, Jim Moriarty and Merata Mita, it also features early roles from Robert Rakete and former newsreader Joanna Paul. Capturing a mood of division and uncertainty, it's a telling representation of the post-tour climate.

Watch The Protesters here:

Made in 2011, TV movie Rage is set during the tour, telling the story of a protester who falls in love with an undercover policewoman. The script was written by noted cartoonist and columnist Tom Scott - a protester during the tour - and his brother-in-law Grant O'Fee, a detective sergeant in Wellington at the time.

Watch an excerpt from Rage here:

Made by Ric Salizzo and John Kirwan in 1992, All Blacks for Africa - A Black and White Issue follows the All Blacks on their first post-apartheid visit to South Africa. Between scenery shots and match highlights, players past and present reflect on politics and sport - amongst them ex-AB Ken Gray, who refused to tour the republic in 1970 and joined anti-tour protesters in 1981.

Watch All Blacks for Africa - A Black and White Issue here:

You can see more Springbok Tour footage here, in NZ On Screen's Spotlight Collection.

Springbok tour research: how does history interpret?

This weekend marks 40 years since the notorious flour-bomb incident at Eden Park during the 1981 Springbok tour.

Violence erupted outside the stadium grounds as protesters and police faced off, while others threw flour bombs and flares on the field to stop the game.

Although apartheid was a major factor behind the unrest, protesters were also actually critiquing wider New Zealand society, says sports historian Sebastian Potgieter .

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Dr Sebastian Potgieter is a South African who moved to Dunedin to conduct a PhD on the Springboks tour. 

Back in 1981, the general public in South Africa wasn't too familiar with what was going on in New Zealand yet the Springbok tour of that year negatively affected the team's ability to play internationally, Dr Potgieter tells Kathryn Ryan.

"The South African government had a very strict information policy in place, which means that a lot of information, particularly that which was critical of the apartheid government, didn't actually make it through to the general public. 

"In the wake of that tour, South African rugby came to be seen as somewhat of a symbolic liability and a lot of countries didn't want to play against South Africa.

"They felt that if the '81 tour is anything to go by, there was a likelihood of very extreme protests taking place in those countries which did host South Africa."

Dr Potgieter found it interesting to hear how vividly New Zealanders remembered the tour as it's not often spoken about in South Africa.

"We sort of know about incidents like the 'flour-bomb' test, but in general, South Africans don't know too much about this tour. 

"It's still a matter which polarises opinions, so people have a lot to say about the tour, and have a lot to say about where they were, what they were doing during that tour."

Dr Sebastian Potgieter Photo: Supplied

It wasn't just apartheid that people were upset about in 1981 - protesters were also taking a stand against the deportation of Pacific Islanders and overstayers and the annexed Māori lands, Dr Potgieter says.

"We very selectively remember the past. It's impossible to remember the past in its entirety ... so certain parts of the past become elevated and contemporarily what we see in New Zealand. 

"If you go back and look at some of the recollections of protesters who are writing shortly after the tour, we see that they say yes, apartheid was a problem, it was certainly what mobilised protests. 

"But in the process of protesting a lot of people ... linked the protests to a lot of the racial discrimination that was happening in New Zealand at that time.

"It's more complex than simply saying this was an anti-apartheid protest and the anti-apartheid side of things is what's elevated at the moment, but it certainly doesn't define what those protests were about."

The demonstrations were also used as a platform to discuss the problematic aspects of rugby culture such as violence, gender stereotyping and alcoholism, he says.

People also need to remember that many New Zealanders supported the tour, Dr Potgieter says.

"Every single stadium during that entire tour was sold out and that there were large numbers of New Zealand television audience who tuned in to watch every game.

"We also see that a lot of New Zealand's far right and extremist groups actually have their biggest sort of phase of public acceptance or public profile when the question of South African tours cropped up in New Zealand.

"When those tours became put into jeopardy, these extremist groups or far right groups - whatever one wants to call them - received tremendous support in New Zealand."

Dr Sebastian Potgieter is a teaching fellow at the University Of Otago's school of physical education, sports and exercise sciences.

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Springbok tour protest at Hamilton, 25 July 1981

A DigitalNZ Story by Zokoroa

On 25 July 1981, anti-tour protesters led to the Springbok - Waikato rugby game being halted in Hamilton

Rugby , Sport , Springbok , Springboks , Hamilton , Anti-tour , Protests. Apartheid , Anti-apartheid , Racism , Anti-racism , HART , Politics

In 1981 the Springbok rugby team toured New Zealand which led to public protests. Those against the tour objected to South Africa's apartheid policies, whilst those supportive of the tour thought politics and sport shouldn't mix. The game against Waikato at Hamilton's Rugby Park on 25 July was called off  when several hundred anti-tour demonstrators invaded the field. During the clashes between pro-tour and anti-tour supporters, over fifty arrests were made. The tour also led to debate about racism and the place of Māori in New Zealand. 

Two members of St John's College run onto Rugby Park, Hamilton, while two supporters of Springbok Rugby Tour try to stop them, 1981

Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa

"Confrontation on Centre Field" - 1981 Springbok Tour

Waikato Museum Te Whare Taonga o Waikato

Protesters in Hamilton during a demonstration against the 1981 Springbok tour - Photograph taken by Phil Reid

Alexander Turnbull Library

National protests

Protest badges - 1981 Springbok tour

Manatū Taonga, the Ministry for Culture and Heritage

Stop the tour

Auckland War Memorial Museum Tāmaki Paenga Hira

Springbok Tour protest programme

Poster was published by HART (Halt All Racist Tours) and handed out to anti-apartheid activists

Poster, 'The 50 Guilty People'

'No Tour' T-shirt

July petition to PM Robert Muldoon calling for the Springbok rugby team to be refused entry into NZ

Petition Cards to Robert Muldoon

Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga

'Don't mention the tour'

Waikato stadium, hamilton: 25 july 1981.

Hamilton's rugby wars - Roadside Stories

Demonstrators Handbook

Protestors lined up across road. Anti Springbok Tour protest march, Hamilton

Photograph - 1981 Springbok Tour

Members of St John's College before march to Rugby Park against Springbok Rugby Tour, Hamilton, 25 July 1981

[Christian protesters sing in an outdoor shopping centre]

Photograph – Springbok tour protest

Protesters hold anti-apartheid and anti-racism signs

Fence, Hamilton

Group of protestors middle of rugby field with spectators behind. Anti Springbok Tour protest march, Hamilton

Group of protestors including Geoff Chapple in middle of rugby field. Anti Springbok Tour protest march, Hamilton

[Protesters occupy a rugby pitch]

Policemen in riot helmets standing on Rugby Park, Hamilton, during the Springbok rugby tour - Photograph taken by Ian Mackley

"Rev. George Armstrong (St. Johns College, Auckland) pleading with Riot Squad" - 1981 Springbok Tour

Line of police confronting protestors. Anti Springbok Tour protest march, Hamilton

"Riot Squad on rugby field" - 1981 Springbok Tour

[A police line and protesters face off on the rugby pitch at Rugby Park, Hamilton]

Police and tour protesters on Rugby Park, Hamilton - Photograph taken by Phil Reid

Baton used by two special police squads formed as security escorts for Springboks

PR 24 baton

Protestors and police officers at Rugby Park, Hamilton - Photograph taken by Phil Reid

Hamilton, 25 July

Police confronting protestors on rugby field. Anti Springbok Tour protest march, Hamilton

Police separating demonstrators & rugby Fans Hamilton.

Police struggle with demonstrators, Hamilton - Photograph taken by Ian Mackley

Rugby supporters hand a demonstrator off the Field, Hamilton.

A demonstrator lies bloody unconscious in Victoria St, Hamilton.

[Proof sheet - Springbok tour protest Hamilton]

This calendar was produced in 1982 to raise legal funds for protesters who had been arrested during Springbok tour

Days of Rage calendar

Reaction in south africa.

The Waikato game was the first being televised live back to South Africa, so viewers there saw the NZ opposition to the tour and apartheid.  

Try Revolution

NZ On Screen

Bromhead, Peter, 1933- :'Right Jan...you on the vickers..and the other nineteen pick up the bodies...' Auckland Star, 28 July 1981.

1981 springbok captain recalls impact of pitch invasion.

Radio New Zealand

Personal accounts

After the tour, English Department of University of Canterbury placed adverts to gather people's comments & experiences

Springbok Tour Archive [Pro]: Hamilton group on democracy versus communism.

University of Canterbury Library

John Minto, national organiser of Halt All Racist Tours (HART), looks back on the 1981 Springbok tour

John Minto - 1981 Springbok tour

Blazey discussing the 1981 springbok tour, stories told about violence : hamilton during the 1981 springbok tour / by nikita prinsloo.

National Library of New Zealand

Springbok Tour Archive [Anti]: Hamilton woman's note on experience and feelings during the tour.

Springbok tour archive [anti]: coromandells housewife's account of trip to hamilton and repercussions., springbok tour archive [pro]: hamilton person, 60. nz freedoms, protest activity, anti-authority elements., springbok tour archive [anti]: christchurch middle-aged man discussing maoris and racism., springbok tour archive [pro]: a northland woman's views on communism, professional 'stirring', hamilton match, violent protest etc., video / audio.

1981 - A Country at War

Waikato game stopped, 1981

The game that never was

Film: game cancelled in hamilton, 1981 springbok tour, hamilton's rugby wars - roadside stories, report on protests at rugby park.

Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Anti-Springbok-tour veterans on the power of HART

Books / articles.

By batons and barbed wire

Roadside stories: hamilton's rugby wars, anti-springbok protesters block hamilton match.

(This DigitalNZ Story was compiled in 2020)  

1981 Springbok Tour

First major demonstration, springboks arrived in new zealand, first rugby test.

Protesters attack Rugby Park in Hamilton

Hamilton Game Cancelled

Anti-tour protest in molesworth street in wellington.

First Test in Christchurch

Second Test in Wellington

"Flour-bomb" test in Eden park in Auckland

Springboks leave new zealand.