1944-45 the Rugby Almanack of New Zealand

56 Days, A HISTORY OF THE ANTI-TOUR MOVEMENT IN WELLINGTON

They were the days of shame and days of rage. They were the days which put New Zealand on the fringes of the Commonwealth and highlighted the failure of our country’s Government to face its responsibilities. They were a testimony to the obstinacy of New Zealand’s rugby administrators; a tribute to the power of the marginal electorates over a divided Government; a fitting background to a Springbok tour in which the visiting players were whisked ignominiously from venue to venue; a shattering reminder in the police batons of the state forces that lurk in the background; and a moral victory for the thousands and thousands of marchers whose protests from July 22 to September 12 symbolised New Zealand’s opposition to the 1981 Springbok Tour.

It was a national protest. It was a protest at the presence in New Zealand of a rugby team which represented the most systematic, legalised form of racial prejudice and racial discrimination in any country in the world. It built on a decade of patient work by people like Trevor Richards and the HART organisation he led for so long.

Brought together in Wellington under the umbrella organisation, Citizens Opposed to the Springbok Tour (COST), the local anti-tour movement joined similar groups in towns and cities around New Zealand in a concerted effort to persuade the Government to call the tour off. When that effort finally failed, COST joined the national campaign to ensure that 1981 would be the last year in which New Zealand would allow itself to be used to promote apartheid sport.

Springboks Protest

Although it had been expected for some time that the New Zealand Rugby football Union would issue an invitation to the South African Rugby Board for a tour of New Zealand by the Springboks in 1981, it was not until late 1980, after the invitation had been issued in September 1980, that work began to build up a mass Wellington anti-tour movement.

The early orientation of the movement was towards pressuring the government into directing the Rugby Union to withdraw their invitation. As public opinion swung more solidly against the tour and the government’s handling of the issue, this target became seen as more and more attainable. At a conference in early 1981, HART sought to focus this amorphous opposition with nationwide demonstrators on Friday May 1. in Wellington and 26 other centres this call was taken up.

Day of Shame

The Campaign begins

The day of the opening match of the tour in Gisbourne was designated New Zealand’s Day of Shame. For most people the unbelievable had come true. A racist South African rugby team was to play in New Zealand.

A Small number of COST supporters traveled to Gisbourne to support demonstrations against the opening match. But the strategy of COST from the beginning was to mount sufficiently vigorous demonstrations in Wellington to keep significant numbers of police in the city. The Intention, repeated throughout the tour, was to stretch police resources – to the limit.

Over 5,000 people showed their opposition to the tour by assembling at Civic Square at 12.15pm. Speeches from Trevor Richards and Pat Kelly were followed by Alick Shaw. Those who did not wish to participate in any action other than a “straight march” were asked to go to the front. This was the Trades Council section, which marched directly to parliament – and occupied the time of a number of police officers who has to provide an escort. The others were asked to form up in ranks of ten across and link arms. This march was split into several sections which had marched down from Victoria University.