"Sports as Sacred Ground": The Springbok Tour, Rugby, and Racial Justice Protests in New Zealand, 1970–81

In 1970 tensions flared in the small Pacific nation of New Zealand because of the longstanding practice of selecting race-based rugby teams to play South Africa. International pressure had forced South Africa to permit Maori and Pacific Islanders to tour South Africa with the rugby team as 'honorary whites.' Outraged, some New Zealanders saw this as demeaning. Others believed that sports should stay out of politics. By 1981 the issue grew into one of the most divisive episodes in New Zealand's troubled history of race relations when protesters and police resorted to violence. Many protestors viewed the protests as exemplifying the spirit of confrontational black civil rights activism.
An interesting aspect of the conflict was the refusal of the local 'black power' gang to affiliate with protestors although other pro-Maori groups saw the protests as linked to their own struggles for racial justice. The black power gang believed that protesting would jeopardize attempts to work with Prime Minister Robert Muldoon in order to improve the social and political position of Maori. They saw their stance as truly serving 'black power'. These issues highlight the way in which the 'sacred' sport of rugby forced New Zealanders to confront the intersection of sports, race relations and international politics after the awakening of the 1960s. The appropriation of 'black power' tactics and rhetoric in this situation illustrates New Zealand's 'turn outward' but also shows how black power ideology was selectively adapted for local use as it traveled across the Pacific.