A Political Game- a story of Rugby and Apartheid

A Political Game explores an issue whose origins are to be found in the fi rst decades of this century. It is about the battle for the soul of New Zealand, about an affl uent period in our history when internationalism was popular and idealism was affordable.
IN BROAD brush-strokes we learn the context of rugby, politics and apartheid from 1921 through to 1996 and today. What did we do, and why did we do it? What effect did we have not only on New Zealanders attitudes towards sporting and other contacts with South Africa, but on wider related issues such as New Zealands foreign policy? Outside South Africa itself, nowhere was the impact of that countrys racial politics greater than it was in New Zealand. What does this tell us about ourselves? Why was the New Zealand/South Africa rugby connection the subject of such an intense and protracted debate?
Rugby did more than mirror emerging cultural values; it stimulated national pride and national feelings. It brought a nation together, providing a focus for a feeling of unity ...rugby provided the biggest public rituals and celebrations. And it didnt just do that for New Zealanders. It did it also for white South Africans. Nothing it seemed was bigger than the game. Defeats were national disasters. Rugby was godlike. To question that was to question New Zealand.

[@TheMudwatcher]

As the only protestor arrested and charged in 1960, judge hit me with a hundred pounds penalty , it was an enormous satisfaction to be in the leading group that charged and occupied the rugby park Hamilton and we cancelled the game. We did not stop the tour but we knew we had won the war. I still choke up when I recall Mandela described the news as ''the sun had come out from the clouds''

[@mavasilinga718]

Thanks to New Zealand for their support in fight against apartheid. Today Springboks are World Champions with players like Maphimpi, Am, Mtawarira, Mbonambi, Colsby, De Allende, Jantjies and so on.

[@deklerkverwoerd7721]

De Allende is white with a tiny bit of Spanish. During apartheid their were a few black players that played for SA

[@TichMakalisa]

@@deklerkverwoerd7721 1 Errol Tobias in the 80's.thats it

[@deklerkverwoerd7721]

@@TichMakalisa Avril Williams

[@mashelalnaar]

Now we need your help to fight apartheid here in NZ

[@sammyvyfers8849]

There were more excellent players of colour.for example hennie shields turkey shields pompies Williams Richard croy and Many more black players from kwaru.danie craven back up our players of colour but the bad government rulers of the apartheid Era stop dok Craven's brilliant dream of n bok team with coloured players😢😢😢.may your soul rest in peace dok

[@grahamsutherland7541]

It was a relatively easy thing for most of us to be Protestors of the Apartheid system. I shall always admire Graeme Mourie for his stand. That took incredible courage. Has he been knighted yet?

[@BooklessT]

Fascinating video and very enjoyable. With the advent of the "second tier" nations raising playing standards from the bottom up, the RWC holders must be seen as the best in the world. In a way, SA is undergoing the same experience as players that were not brought up in a rugby household are given the opportunity to play. Professionalism breeds pragmatism in terms of selection and the better player will get the nod 99.99% of the time, and that's exactly as it should be. SA now has a huge catchment pool for its rugby players, growing every time they win the RWC. I suspect that as long as internal politics are kept out of the way, that SA will dominate world rugby for some time to come

[@chanelduplessis1351]

My Dad was there as a protester....Kia kaha!! We as kids didn't understand what was going on. I do now!! Thanks Dad , Aroha Nui

[@francismyers4556]

Great doccie, ty

[@iqosuser2754]

Love this history long live south Africa and New Zealand. Moari we apologise to you for the unfair trestment. We love you kiwis. We are brothers. Warriors in Rugby. 2023 as well. AUSTRALIA please come back to Rugby. We both need you.

[@thealbons766]

I truly appreciate the historical story presented here and the highlighting of the mutual respect between the players. I do, however, question the impartiality shown by the "journalists". It seems quite clear that every time that South Africa won (biased referees and Suzylitis) it was unfair and hollow while every All Black victory was wrought in glory.

[@paulthompson5966]

You obviously weren't paying attention then. Specific mention was given to the questionable refereeing during the '56 tour of NZ which resulted in the Boks losing their first test series in sixty years.(15.45-16.20)

[@Sunflower-dt6ev]

Doco left out that on the 1970 tour BeeGee, etc. traveled as Honourary Whites & we agreed to it SMFH lol. Great watch, seeing history like this 👍

[@truckcompany]

It's crazy how skinny these rugby players were back then. It's like the whole back line was filled with younger Conrad Smiths.

[@Mumbo_Jumbo_Kiwi.1]

Alan Hewsons timing is impeccable as any great of the game. He didn't have to carry any weight. That's the difference between then & now.

[@moc7323]

The game was better for it back then .. I preferred the game of yesterday

[@garrieclark24]

Real men with real jobs,no gym muppets.

[@MegaSpiritualWarrior]

38:39 that was SA's greatest moment in history!

[@salt1956]

Growing up with rugby league in Sydney, and not being a private school boy myself, I was unaware of the considerable traditions of rugby union discussed in this excellent video. Where I lived, union was an archaic amateur sport played by men who weren't good enough to play league (sorry, but it's true). Russell Fairfax and Ray Price switched to league with great success, and were immediately banished from rugby union. I was unaware there was even a Rugby World Cup until the 1990's. When the Wallabies won the RWC, Australia in fact were world champions in a sport which was barely heard of back home. Rugby is now professional like all other football codes, wonderfully bringing it into the modern era. League stars can nowadays switch to rugby union where there is no salary cap like league. Few ever choose to do so. Presently, the Wallabies are sliding downwards as they have no league stars in the team and most Pacific Island stars are busy making money in the National Rugby League, the world's premier club rugby competition.

[@brianodriscoll2725]

What about the rugby World Cup in high is a huge tournament where as league doesn’t exist outside of eastern aus

[@salt1956]

@@brianodriscoll2725 Yes I know the RWC is an excellent tournament once every four years. The NRL is a club competition with 17 teams from Australia and NZ. Remember, league is a professional game which can only be played in nations which can afford a professional competition. (Please note that France would have had its own NRL if the Nazi-sponsored Vichy regime had not confiscated all of the French rugby league’s considerable assets and given them over to the rugby union).

[@richardmatatahi4563]

Awesome documentary South Africa are still at the top of World Rugby, so is New Zealand but WR have changed the game where it no longer a game between Nations but more to bridge the gap between the NH & the SH who have dominated the RWC since 1987. We now have countries playing with import players eligible on 3yr Residency that can now play against their country of birth. Seems to go against the spirit of a country and who we are. Professional Contracts playing for clubs not a worry but not International Test Matches or ban players playing against their country of birth in these teams but ok against other teams. My opinion.

[@michaelharris8618]

bring back the tour . Our South African brothers want it as much as us. Please black South Africans let our two nations be the best at the game played in heaven

[@AE-Rugby]

Brilliant doc.... Thanks for posting

[@gordonfortuin1839]

As a youngster growing up in Manenberg the hatred was so strong that we all went for the All Blacks.We never had the opportunity to Learn an African language which I still felt today was such an injustice .Times has changed now we Sing combined National Anthem. Which is more About God help Africa.

[@theboss1967able]

I'm not South African or a New Zealander, but I've always looked upon the Sprinboks as the number 1 in the sport. Exclusion cost them that and still is I think.I don't look at the tri nations(or the 4 nations now) as a true meter of who is the best, the RWC is the barometer for me. How many times did the ABs win the tri nations in a WC year yet choke in the World Cup. The Boks have played in 2 RWC less than NZ yet have won it the same nunber of times, once on foreign soil.

[@kevinloving606]

theboss1967able And I'm an American and thought Rugby by allowing Black men to play could have opened South Africa open sooner

[@Me-ex7qg]

Yeah but head to head NZ has dominated the Springboks.

[@richardmatatahi4563]

The only time I thought the better team lost the WC was the 1995 RWC, later realizing it was far better we lost because looking at the South African people White & Black after the game was a joy to behold. That win & Nelson Mandela was the best thing that happened for South Africa, the word UNITY certainly came to mind that day back in 95. We kiwis got over it, and South Africa did beat us fair & square. If you like to call it choking your team has choked up a few losses to us, you can say the Tri-nation or the Championship ain't a true meter of whose best, but as always the best team wins. Some South Africans need reminding you didn't beat us at the 2019 RWC Champ and still trying, didn't win much at Super Rugby SH so run away to the NH, We'll see if that paid off for you guys, during the upcoming Rugby Championship. If you don't know why you guys didn't attend the first 2 RWC you need a history lesson.

[@hikanui281]

Good thought, are you still alive bruv?

[@philster611-ih8te]

South Africa has a lot to thank NZ for helping them to join the world of sports. Despite the fact that there were worldwide sanctions against SA, NZ still wished to put sport above politics and maintain a relationship. This would go some ways to help the process of ending apartheid and bringing South Africa into the international community.

[@SuperUFB]

Bullshit it was the opposite. The Blacks and Coloureds saw ordinary New Zealanders who were prepared to stand up and be counted and took heart. I know this is true because I have deliberately set out to talk to Black and Coloured South Africans about it ever since.

[@philster611-ih8te]

I was talking about what happened outside South Africa. NZ helped to put the wheels in motion for the end of apartheid long before it actually happened....Give them some deserved credit

[@SuperUFB]

Nonsense...the TV images of ordinary New Zealand civilians occupying the middle of Rugby Park and stopping the Waikato Test being shown on South African TV did a LOT more to end Apartheid... The South African Blacks and Coloureds saw it and it gave them heart. Nelson Mandela himself said that when he heard the news it was like a 'ray of sunshine into his cell on Robben Island'. So don't talk crap.

[@SupremeBros2012]

What ended apartheid was the sporting boycotts when everyone finally was on board...if all countries stopped playing the boks in the 70s, apartheid would probably have ended in the early 80s...the isolation, sanctions and the awareness protests did all the work, not some Rugby tours that did the exact opposite. On the surface they were great Rugby duels but they nothing to stop apartheid, no need to rewrite history

[@SuperUFB]

Bode Olajumoke I am proud of the fact that I was one of the 1981 Anti Springbok Tour Protestors here in New Zealand. Our actions got past the apartheid censorship and were shown on TVs all over South Africa. We caused the Waikato testmatch to be called off. Madiba heard of it in his Robben Island cell. I'll never forget it, I was only 13.

[@dlennox1629]

Dr Verwoerd was dead by 1967 how did he give that order from the grave. And that is a picture of Vorster and Ian Smith. If you're going to teach history get it right.

[@lazer_kiw1]

This was in 1965, before he died. Although they called him "President," Verwoerd was Prime Minister. Don't know why they showed that picture either.

[@wernerschneider4460]

Verwoerd and Vorster both boil in a very big pot filled with cooking oil down in hell.

[@derekallan2899]

@@wernerschneider4460 and so do all the germans who supported and fought for the Nazis. HMMMMMMM!!

[@adventureguy4223]

I hope the springboks push back this year and show the passion of the old foes of the All Blacks vs Springboks challenge....the best there is...!!!

[@long_strong8843]

I liked watching this video in History class

[@rahowhero]

j claason using a bit of projection (to use the correct psychological term), putting his (south africa s) weakness on to NZ

[@kelsofire7366]

The Mighty boks are our true Equal in this Game we both love the Mostest

[@SupremeBros2012]

LOL at Stu Wilson trying to argue his limitations (or in this case minimise his guilt)....funny enough in that test series he was busy playing against SA and his wife (well ex) was protesting outside Its one thing to have no guilt about playing a match but don't go on a round about way to justify it...you are just digging bigger holes for yourself

[@AnnaP-uh3mc]

Bode Olajumoke Yep. Sounded like he’d make the same decision again - grosa.

[@karlosdeevs]

@@AnnaP-uh3mc i don't think i've heard a more ironic story in all my years of rugby

[@malcolmhayward4431]

How a court can stop a sporting team from touring another country for whatever fancy reason in a supposedly FREE society is still a mystery to me. Whist I didn’t agree with apartheid this was wrong too as I believed then and believe now.

[@koosvanzyl2605]

HOW I long for these wonderful years when competent people were still in control of South Africa.

[@deklerkverwoerd7721]

Sadly it will never happen again

[@niueanlaho]

both Awesome teams...........

[@rahowhero]

palenski talking out his arse, how would he know the motivation for leaving maori players out of a tour, 60 years b4 he was born

[@edwardkani3380]

he is right nz whites where hard on the maori players

[@mikespencer4922]

I spent seven months in NZ. Kiwis are as racist as fuck....

[@darren2514fv]

The NZ Rugby Football Union did say no three times in 1967 and 1985 to tours to South Africa and in 1973 to the South Africans coming to New Zealand

[@petedudson6671]

Only 1967. 1973 was the Kirk government and in 1985 two lawyers brought a court injunction against the NZRFU

[@edwardkani3380]

that should have started way before that when they where told that maori was not allowed

[@honawikeepa5813]

The Bok's and the AB's. What a theatre. God defend Us! Muldoon didn't believe in a God idea.

[@romeish]

all settlers nations like Australia & NZ now depend greatly on Maori & Pacific Islanders for their rugby & country more than 50% of the teams especially in NZ. The entry of Blacks SA's to SA rugby is too slow which goes to show old apartheid sentiments still live strong in SA rugby.

[@highlander3569]

Always have to be 1 person talking shite Apartheid ended in 94 everybody is free 24 year wake up! you still live in the old south africa it seems, just look at the team colour now old fa...rt we are rugby lovers now take you political views somewhere else

[@edwardkani3380]

bullshit bro you still hear abuolt white players objecting to sleeping in the same room as a black player

[@clonecommanderbly7408]

South Africa whites are 10x better players than blacks, blacks play football not union

[@ay613]

@@clonecommanderbly7408 What's with people always dividing race no one cares

[@derekallan2899]

go and play soccer you green grocer

[@MrAhuapai]

RIP Ors.

[@thingme9941]

Bring back the tours. that was the age where representing your province or your national team was valued. All Black and Springbok jerseys are now a dime a dozen and with it the acclaim just does not resonate !

[@enteecee]

So who''s watching the game this weekend? LOL End of the day, without the Wallibies, Springboks and All Blacks, it doesn't count!

[@user-xr6yl9kd9j]

Afrikanders should have divided their goverrnment, parliament and courts in two equal parts - black and white. In mid 1960s.

[@edwardkani3380]

why they where on a sweet wicket

[@craycraydoggyshow5745]

Quite interesting indeed

[@roddyteague6246]

The abiding myth of the 1976 Olympic boycott needs to be scotched once & for all. it was a perfect excuse for cash strapped African countries not to attend. When asked Kaunda confirmed this in 1992 making it clear that attending The Olympics was not a cheap exercise. At least until 1984!

[@prosodiclearning]

An "Honorary White" . . . those Boers were nuts . . ., I hereby name myself an Honorary Black, then

[@rkaylor5769]

The ANC would do no worse in New Xiland right about now.

[@tugreenaway9448]

pioneer is another word for colonial

[@rahowhero]

if you include dodgy ref, then u r right

[@derekallan2899]

HA HA New Zealand has had a few!! Stones break glass houses

[@mikespencer4922]

The Bryce Lawrence Referee Acadamy??🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@stevehughes1510]

When you take a look back on it the NZRU should not have excluded Maori players from those earlier teams and Sth Africa should not have toured here in '81. But the NZRU were pigheaded and as we sometimes said when in my college rugby days they were ruggerbuggers, in other words, 'who cares what happens as long as we play rugby'. And on it goes.

[@jethrodube3691]

Sometimes i feel the Boers have gone too far with their evilness, may FW Derk rot in hell.

[@Tupouish]

mystery illness...%#(^%

[@adolfmudau9956]

just imagine if south africa didnt have apartheid....its was gonna win alot of rugby trophies

[@Me-ex7qg]

There's literally 50+ more million ppl in SA than NZ. Not only is NZ better at rugby, they school SA at most sports

[@NoName-hg6cc]

@@Me-ex7qg Rugby was played mostly by Afrikaners though....

[@TheMudwatcher]

`Skinner was not ''an ex-boxer'', he had been a champion amateur boxer as a teenager but had focused on rugby even at that stage and has not boxed in 10 years, and never again.

[@WibblyPigNZ]

Shame on Muldoon. Shame on the NZRFU. Shame on those who played and attended and barracked and threatened and threw and kicked. A black mark on our nation's history.

[@enteecee]

+WibblyPigNZ Agreed! Ir a sad Kiwi trait, if doesn't affect me I don't care. In fairness though, Muldoon is forever known as Piggy Muldoon, the man who allowed the Springbok tour and instigated the Dawn Raids, which were as shameful as the tour. I was a little kid during the tour, not a fun rime, everyone was fighting!

[@perrycomeau2627]

By 1995 the International Rugby Football Board declared that rugby union players may be professional.

[@BeiliChina]

I CANNOT believe that at the 1992 insert you completely left out the Springbok fight back and James Small's goal line drop that would have won the game. You muppets.

[@onosai1000]

You are right brother.. that was a great game - The Mighty Springboks are our greatest opponents and our brothers in arms. I have the privilege in playing alongside my Bok Brothers in England and call them my great friends. Our apologies Barry van Wyk.

[@MrAhuapai]

The Boks managed to fight back because NZ teams were unused to playing at altitude and ran out of breath 20 minutes to go. The next week playing at sea level the Australians thrashed the Springboks.The Boks were clearly well below the level of NZ and Australia at that time because their game had stagnated.

[@jossiesteenkamp9317]

1981 tour to NZ divided the NZ community

[@ngatiwaihitman]

Damn Skinner fucked up Bekkers face 😲

[@theboss1967able]

you're absolutely right, they never lost with dignity at all, always an excuse. They won their first series in SA in 1996 only because the Boks were way off the pace due to exclusion. Even the 95 world cup defeat was due to mysterious food poisoning.

[@NoName-hg6cc]

Matches in South Africa: pARTISAnS ReFeReeS Matches in NZ: GReaT SiDE whO diN'T CHeAt aNd iF it dID, It ChEATED To NOt BE IntiMiDatED Not biased documentary at all...

[@caylebmladenovic3348]

Everyone knows South African reffs we’re massive cheats at the time.

[@razeenmeyer9728]

Goal kicking prop forward 😂😂😂

[@iancurtis1152]

8 the perpetual number

[@pieterprinsloo007]

And still the pass to Ian Jones was forward...you haven’t won a series in South Africa that day.

[@kierantaylor9747]

politics and sport dont mix

[@maureenjackson2041]

No place for racism in sport how about that

[@AshboNZ86]

Funny seeing old ex-boks crying about foul play 😂

[@lizahenry3343]

Piggy Muldoon one of the biggest racist Primeminsters nz ever tuned out imo.

[@shanowilliams9851]

lol//moan about our refs...pfft..yeha nz

[@richardjagger4310]

POLITICS : \THE ANC tried to punish the rugby players and fans in a sport loved by white South Africains and never played by the black Africans. The ANC would kill off pride for a political gain.

[@AnnaP-uh3mc]

Richard Jagger No. good decent people did not want to support the racist brutal regime of Apartheid in South Africa and took an appropriate stand.

[@theodorecobernneels2377]

Never allowed to play with whites and in their leagues yes, but people of colour played the game for a long time in their seperate leagues. If you think people of colour only started playing rugby after 94 then you are in for one huge surprise.

[@wernerschneider4460]

@@theodorecobernneels2377 There were even white rugby-players in the 1980s who played in majority black teams to prove a point. Luckily there were enough whites who didn't condone apartheid and even spoke an African language before the system fell. This helped a lot after the system had fallen.

[@lizahenry3343]

I thought it was because Black SA saw the spring boks as white supremist a whites only game?

[@jossiesteenkamp9317]

Halt All Racist Tours movement it services them right than they were racist

[@theboss1967able]

This is SO anti South Africa. Horrible NZ bias.

[@kiwizeppelin]

probably because they were nasty cunts

[@garrett2439]

Yeah and videos about the Holocaust are SO anti Germany

[@AnnaP-uh3mc]

theboss1967able It’s anti-apartheid not anti-SA.

[@sutherlandA1]

Well South Africa was anti native African so you reap what you sow

[@maureenjackson2041]

@@garrett2439 Very well.said I could have said it better and I couldn't agree more.

[@humanforfreedom9583]

yeah because south africa Is much better off today

[@sutherlandA1]

If South Africa didn't change the economic and political boycotts/sanctions/embargoes from most of the world would've kept your nation a global pariah and would've suffered accordingly

[@maureenjackson2041]

The apartheid regime was rightly excluded from sport, there's no place for racism and discrimination in sport, all should have a right to participate in sport regardless of race, religion ect. South Africa not only excluded nom European South Africans from sport, they even barred non whites from other nations from touring South Africa, and tried to dictate who should play in other countries teams, how arrogant of the Afrikaner nationalist Government.

[@lizahenry3343]

how many rugby world cups have SA won they are champions, its so much better today.

[@adolfmudau9956]

all blacks......its an irony name

[@jamesmccann355]

Keep politics out of sport.

[@ay613]

And keep racism out of sport

[@realnews8075]

Vote EFF ❤