EDITOR’S LETTER
THE 1981 SPRINGBOK TOUR WAS TUMULTUOUS FOR NEW ZEALAND AS A COUNTRY AND BEWILDERING FOR A YOUNG LAD WHO LOVED RUGBY and came from a racially diverse family. Two of my older sisters were vehemently against the tour and marched in the protests as angry teenagers have done throughout history.
We were not a divided house, as some were at the time, but I remember rugby being a dirty word at home for a while, even though my older brother and I happily played the game that winter.
I also remember one of my mates’ Dad riding his bike to Fowlds Park in Mt Albert, where the protestors massed, chaining it to a fence, marching in the anti-tour protest, then running back to his bike in time to ride home and watch the third and final test on TV.
That seems, to me, to sum up how many felt at the time. We were anti racism but keen on our footy.
The Springboks were not a team
