The unifying force of sport

In 1960, before a much-anticipated rugby game between the Springboks and the All Blacks, a protest meeting in New Zealand was called to oppose racial discrimination in the selection of their team. The motto was: ‘No Maoris – No Tour’. More than 150 000 people signed the petition. Sixty years later, the world has fortunately come a long way . . .

Life is full of coincidences. Last Saturday, when the All Blacks were due to play the Springboks once more in their long history of rugby rivalry, I made my way to Uncle Spike’s bookstore in Windhoek to peruse their books and add to my cherished Lawrence Green collection. I came across a book I hadn’t seen before and pulled it off the shelf. As I opened it, an old pamphlet floated to the floor. It was a brochure for the 1960 rugby tour with a list of the matches to be held between New Zealand’s All Black and South Africa’s Springbok teams. The venues included both Windhoek and Ellis Park. The scores had been pencilled in.

The year 1960 was a significant one for the teams. New Zealand had decided to respect the policies of the countries it was competing with, in this case South Africa’s segregationist policies, and had withdrawn the Maori players from its team. This caused an uproar in the country. The two arch rivals had long been locking heads and in 1956 the All Blacks had won the series. The rematch was a much-awaited event.

The withdrawal of the Maori players spurred the Citizens’ All Black Tour Association to call a protest meeting for the 12 August 1959 to try and stop the tour. Other groups organised protest marches to voice their opposition. But the controversial ‘All-Whites All Black tour’ went ahead nonetheless. It did, however, create a rift in the country, leaving many New Zealanders appalled, and initiated anti-racist group HART – Halt All Racist Tours.

When I got home after finding the old brochure, I read up about the history of the teams. Established in the late 1800s, the New Zealand National Rugby Union played its first international match in 1903. Their early uniforms comprised a black jersey and white shorts. When on their 1905 tour they began to wear all black, except for their silver fern emblem, they became known as the ‘All Blacks’, a name they have used ever since. They have over the course of their existence not only made grown men tremble in their boots with their ferocious Maori haka challenge performed at the beginning of each match, but they have proved to be a formidable team, having a 76% record of wins in test-match rugby.

The two teams have been competing since 1921 and have played each other 102 times, the All Blacks being victorious in 60 matches and the Springboks in 38. The match on Saturday 13 August 2022 will mark their 103rd game and will be their fifteenth test match since their first clash at Ellis Park in 1928.

In one of the most powerful moments in Springbok rugby history, Nelson Mandela showed the world that equality was possible in the 1995 World Cup when, dressed in a Springbok jersey, he stepped onto the field to wish the team good luck before the match and in so doing united a nation. It was the first major international sporting event to take place in South Africa following the end of apartheid and the first World Cup in which South Africa was allowed to compete when it was readmitted into the international rugby arena. When the Springboks defeated the All Blacks, he presented the cup to Springbok captain François Pienaar and cheered. The crowd roared its approval. Time had moved on.

Looking at the 1960 brochure, a souvenir from the year I was born, I realised that rugby fans then would have listened to the broadcast over the radio. Now I was looking forward to watching it live on TV. The score from Ellis Park on 25 May 1960 was 13-0 to the Springboks. Last Saturday, the Springboks beat the All Blacks once again with a score of 26-10. A final match is scheduled for this Saturday, 13 August. On 13 August 1960, the game played between the teams in Bloemfontein ended in a draw 11-11. It will be interesting to see what the score will be, exactly sixty-two years on.

(References:   ‘No Maoris – No Tour’ poster, 1959 | NZHistory, New Zealand history online; All-white All Blacks leave for South Africa | NZHistory, New Zealand history online; New Zealand national rugby union team – Wikipedia; 1995 Rugby World Cup – Wikipedia)