1971 South Africa rugby union tour of Australia

The 1971 South Africa rugby union tour of Australia was a controversial six-week rugby union tour by the Springboks to Australia. Anti-apartheid protests came to being all around the country. The tour is perhaps most infamous for a state of emergency being declared in Queensland. In total, around 700 people were arrested whilst the Springboks were on tour.

Overview

The first games were then played in Adelaide and Perth, which were disrupted mainly by youth-led protesters. The third match was set to take place in Melbourne. A 5,000 strong crowd, made up mostly of university students, gathered in the streets of Melbourne to march on Olympic Park in protest.[1] Police had set up a wall of units around the stadium, around 650 policemen many armed with batons and some on horseback.[1]

In Sydney, several people, including the Secretary of the New South Wales Builders Labourers Federation, attempted to saw down the goal posts at the Sydney Cricket Ground prior to the match.[2] In addition, a gigantic anti-apartheid effigy was hung from the Sydney Harbour Bridge but subsequently cut down.[2]

Queensland premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen declared a month-long state of emergency.[3] The game was instead played at the Exhibition Ground, being moved from its original venue at Ballymore, as it was deemed easier to erect barricades at the Exhibition Ground.[4] A two-metre chain wire fence was erected to separate players and spectators.[5]

According to Meredith Burgmann and Peter McGregor, both leading firebrands, the rugby tour was a crucial target but to stop the summer's cricketing visit was the ultimate goal.[6][7] They were successful in this regard as the cricket tour was called off due to security reasons.

Fixtures

Scores and results list South Africa's points tally first.[8]

Opposing TeamForAgainstDateVenueStatus
Western Australia441826 Jun 1971PerthTour match
South Australia43030 Jun 1971AdelaideTour match
Victoria5003 July 1971MelbourneTour match
Sydney21126 July 1971SydneyTour match
New South Wales25310 July 1971SydneyTour match
New South Wales Country19313 July 1971OrangeTour match
Australia191117 July 1971Sydney Cricket Ground, SydneyTest match
Australian Capital Territory34321 July 1971CanberraTour match
Queensland331424 July 1971BrisbaneTour match
Junior Wallabies311227 July 1971BrisbaneTour match
Australia14631 Jul 1971Exhibition Ground, BrisbaneTest match
Queensland Country45143 Aug 1971ToowoombaTour match
Australia1867 Aug 1971Sydney Cricket Ground, SydneyTest match

Touring group

Test matches

South Africa won the Test Series 3–0

  • 17 July 1971 – Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney, South Africa 19–11 Australia

South Africa: McCallum, Nomis, Cronje, Jansen, Viljoen, Visagie, J Viljoen, Du Plessis, Ellis, Greyling, Williams, Du Preez, Marais (c), Van Wyk and Sauermann

Tries by Hannes Viljoen, Joggie Viljoen and Jan Ellis. Ian McCallum 2 conversions and penalty and Piet Visagie drop goal.

Australia Captain Greg Davis

  • 31 July 1971 – Brisbane Exhibition Ground, Brisbane, South Africa 14–6 Australia
  • 7 August 1971 – Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney. South Africa 18–6 Australia

See also

References

Notes
  1. "Mild in the streets". The Age. 25 April 2005.
  2. "Focus on Springbok tour on eve of anniversary - Media @ UOW". media.uow.edu.au.
  3. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 25 August 2006. Retrieved 12 June 2006.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. "Brisbane Exhibition Ground - Austadiums". www.austadiums.com.
  5. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 9 August 2007.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  6. Burghmann 2008.
  7. James Middleton, 17 November 1993, Greenleft Weekly, the rules: the campaign in Australia against apartheid, Retrieved 22 March 2015. This was an extensive interview conducted by Middleton with McGregor from the documentary Political Football, which concerned the anti-apartheid protests in Australia during the early 1970s.
  8. "The 1971 Springbok tour". blogs.sport24.co.za. 24 December 2011. Archived from the original on 4 July 2012. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
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