Subj : Newsmakers: John Minto looks back at 1981 Springbok tour protests
To   : All
From : News
Date : Sun Apr 14 2024 11:22 am

The 1981 springbok tour was a seminal moment in our history. The country was
divided between those that saw rugby as just a game and anit-apartheid groups
who thought the tour should be called off.


When South Africa's all white team arrived here, protesters rallied.


This weeks' Newsmaker helped plan the demonstrations that saw 150,000 take to
the streets. John Minto talked to Melissa Stokes about the moment they
stopped a test in Hamilton.


"I felt responsible," Minto said.


"I went around the crowd with a borrowed police loud hailer and got a group
of around 300 people and said 'look police say that they'll let people go
they won't arrest anybody if you want to leave now. That's fine.' But not a
single person moved."


He was in Rugby Park, in Hamilton. It was July 25, 1981. For once it was
protesters, not players, on the pitch.


Minto, alongside several hundred others, were present to protest the first
Saturday game of the controversial Springbok tour.


There were more than 500 police officers present, but protest organisers had
bought hundreds of tickets to the game. Anti-tour protesters invaded the
pitch, alongside several hundred others who tore down a boundary fence from a
nearby street.


The game was called off, but rugby spectators weren't happy.


"We want rugby!" They chanted. They started attacking protesters as police
tried to usher everyone away.

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