INTERNATIONAL IMPACT
Prior to the 1960s, international pressure on Apartheid-era South Africa was limited to economic, academic and cultural sanctions. Beginning in 1961, segregated sporting contact with South Africa declined, especially among Commonwealth nations. This appeared to be an effective form of dissent, as sports were a key interest of much of the white population of South Africa, and therefore the exclusion of South Africans from the international sports arena was more widely felt than other sanctions. At first, the aim of sporting boycotts was to de-segregate and de-racialise South Africa sport - as up until the 1990s, South African teams were selected on a racial basis and only whites could represent the country in international fixtures - but over time many movements worked in an attempt to force the government to abandon Apartheid policies. There is still limited evidence of the direct effect of sporting sanctions as a whole on the dismantling of Apartheid, but it is clear that sporting restrictions were an overt way of showing the South African general public that the international community did not support their political background. By the early 1970s, contact between South African and New Zealand rugby teams had started to affect New Zealand's image internationally, and many Black African states isolated New Zealand diplomatically in protest. The New Zealand public became painfully aware of this disapproval after Black African nations boycotted the Montreal Olympics due to New Zealand's presence at the Games and their continued links with South African sport.
The first Black president of South Africa, Nelson Mandela.
The anti-apartheid movement in South Africa was therefore invigorated by the events of the 1981 Tour in New Zealand. Nelson Mandela recalled that when he was in his prison cell on Robben Island and heard that the game in Hamilton had been cancelled, it was as ‘if the sun had come out’. Mandela was eventually 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 anti-apartheid movement in New Zealand was enterprising, committed and courageous. Often campaigning in a very hostile environment, it was responsible for achieving very significant victories. While there were anti-apartheid demonstrations in many parts of the world, very few assumed the magnitude that those of 1981 did in New Zealand. Masses of ordinary people got involved and that has special significance.
From a South African perspective, the 1981 Springbok tour was a story of hope. It chronicles the power of ordinary people to defeat complicity in an evil system. Whilst we must not live in the past, we must never allow ourselves to forget the bitter–sweet lessons of the past. To do this is to invite old evils to reappear." - Gregory Fortunin, South African consulate, reflecting on the Tour in 2006.
"The anti-apartheid movement in New Zealand was enterprising, committed and courageous. Often campaigning in a very hostile environment, it was responsible for achieving very significant victories. While there were anti-apartheid demonstrations in many parts of the world, very few assumed the magnitude that those of 1981 did in New Zealand. Masses of ordinary people got involved and that has special significance.
From a South African perspective, the 1981 Springbok tour was a story of hope. It chronicles the power of ordinary people to defeat complicity in an evil system. Whilst we must not live in the past, we must never allow ourselves to forget the bitter–sweet lessons of the past. To do this is to invite old evils to reappear." - Gregory Fortunin, South African consulate, reflecting on the Tour in 2006.