When the Tour Came to Auckland

51 Pages·2014·0.376 MB·English

by  Geoff Chapple

Table of Contents
Introduction 1
Auckland 4
Auckland:ThirdTest 13
IntroducingBWBTexts 46
AbouttheAuthor 47
EditorialNote 48
CopyrightandPublisherInformation 49
ii
Introduction
The Springbok tour of New Zealand in 1981 provoked the biggest mass protest
inNewZealand’shistory.StreetdemonstrationsdemandingtheGovernmentstop
thetourtotalledover60,000peopleinthemajorcitiespriortotheSouthAfrican
rugbyteam’sarrival.Thosenumbersswelledfurtherasthetourprogressed.So-
mething over 100,000 protesters were involved in the marches or direct actions
ofJuly,AugustandSeptemberthatyear.
But those figures alone don’t reveal the scale of it, or the emotion that en-
gulfedsomany.Pollstakenatthetimesuggested49percentoftheNewZealand
population–about1.1millionpeopleovertheageof15–expressedoutrightop-
positionordisquietaboutthetour.Andthosemillionpeopleweredrawnalsointo
atmospheresofanger,threatandintimidationfromthepro-tourside.
Thepro-touremotionhadrootsdecadesdeep.TheSpringboksweretheAll
Blacks’ greatest rivals. The test match history stretched back to 1921, and a
Springbok–All Black contest remained the supreme pinnacle of any rugby cal-
endar. The New Zealand Rugby Football Union (NZRFU) backed such tours
irrespective of any wider repercussions, and the passionate supporters of New
Zealandrugbywaitedyearbyyeartobringiton.
Butforagraduallyincreasingminority,theissuesofhumandignity,justice
and equality mattered more than the game. Apartheid laws denied the African
majoritywithinSouthAfricatheirbasichumanrights,andthesportsboycottwas
anon-violentwayofchallengingthisstructure.
ThedisputebetweenthetwostretchedrightbacktoatimewhentheNZRFU
habitually bowed to a South African demand that any touring All Black team
should be all white. In 1959 Citizens All Black Tour Association (CABTA)
gathered 153,000 signatures on a petition: 'No Maoris, No Tour'. By 1966,
CABTAhadwonthatfight,withthenPrimeMinisterKeithHolyoakesuggesting
to the NZRFU that the racial requirement did not chime with New Zealand val-
ues. But by then, the call had changed. By then the South African Non-Racial
OlympicCommittee(SANROC)hadsecuredSouthAfrica’sexclusionfromthe
1964 Olympic Games, and aimed now, alongside the UN’s General Assembly
anditsSpecialCommitteeonApartheid,toextendthesportsbanfurther.Bythen,
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two New Zealand organisations – the Citizens Association for Racial Equality
(CARE)and,later,thestudent-basedorganisationHaltAllRacistTours(HART)
–werepreparedtorespondtothecall.
BothCAREandHARTendorseddirectaction.AsthescheduledSpringbok
tour of 1973 approached, a 'No Tour' message was dug into Eden Park, two
metres high. A rugby grandstand burned down. The Prime Minister of the day,
NormanKirk,directedtheRNZFUtowithdrawitsinvitation.Hequotedinterna-
tionaldamagetoNewZealand’sreputationanddomesticupheaval.Thedecision
was the first Government intervention to stop an incoming Springbok tour, and
it stoked resentment. Out on the hustings for the 1975 election, the new Leader
of the Opposition, Robert Muldoon, gave that resentment a voice. He said he’d
welcomeaSpringboktour,andhegainedpowerthatyearinalandslide.
The Government encouragement for apartheid sport was intended for do-
mestic consumption, but it was also noted coldly offshore. Powerful African
organisations began to speak of African boycotts of any sports event that had
New Zealand participation. The boycott threat was focused further by the New
Zealand Prime Minister’s off-handeddismissal ofitandbytheAllBlacks’ tour
ofSouthAfricainJune–July1976.Thattourcoincidedwiththe100ormorestu-
dentdeathsandburningtownshipsoftheSowetostudentprotestsofthoseweeks.
TheMontrealOlympicsbeganon17July.NewZealandfieldeditsOlympic
team,and24blacknationswithdrewfromthegames.NewZealandhadsuddenly
becomeaninternationalpariah.
UnderthreatoffurtherCommonwealthsportsboycotts,PrimeMinisterMul-
doonsignedtheGleneaglesAgreementof1977,inwhichCommonwealthHeads
of Government accepted ‘the urgent duty of their governments to combat vig-
orously the evil of apartheid by withholding support for and by discouraging
contact or competition with sporting organisations, teams or sportsmen from
SouthAfrica’.
As the scheduled Springbok tour of 1981 approached, Prime Minister Mul-
doon was under pressure to honour that Gleneagles commitment. He scheduled
alivetelecastfor6July1981,hisfirstandlastdirectappealtotheNZRFU,and
everyone tuned in. Most people expected a strong cease-and-desist call to the
NZRFU, but they hadn’t factored in the impending election ofNovember 1981,
and the importance to the Government of the rugby-mad provincial seats. The
PrimeMinister’sspeechthatnightwasbestdescribedasodd.Itrecalledthebond
betweenSouthAfricaandNewZealand,howthesoldiersofeachhadfoughtand
died together in World War II, and it drifted on to a limp conclusion: ‘I say to
them(theNZRFU),thinkwellbeforeyoumakeadecision.’
Iwrotearoundthattime,andseenoreasontochangeit:
‘For its own political advantage the Government had steadily
reeled in the tour. But on the night of July 6 came the flash.
A lot of people looked back and saw what the Government
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Introduction
wasdoing.TheysawtoothattheGovernmenthadlostfooting
on a basic integrity – internationally at Gleneagles, internally
withitschoicetostepbackfromfundamentallyopposedforces
within the society. So that the social contract broke and the
tour was not just reeled in on New Zealand, but the tour and
everythingwhichlayclumpedarounditpulledeveryonedown
towards a hovering sense of death, to broken bones and
smashedfaces,toburnedchurchesandstadiums,toprisonsen-
tencesandhatredofthepoliceandrugby.’
BoththepoliceandMuldoonunderestimatedthestrengthofwhatwastooc-
cur.
On the day of the game against provincial Waikato on 25 July 1981, a
protest march broke through fences and stormed the centre of Rugby Park. At
thesametimearogueCessna,pilotedbyknowndaredevilandanti-tourstalwart
PatMcQuarrie,wasapproachingfromthesouthwithunknownintent.Policecan-
celled the game, and the country erupted in both triumph and loathing. A small
countryunusedtopolarisationandcivicviolencesuddenlyhaditinspades.Small
townspilloriedtheirownpeople.WorkmatessentotherworkmatestoCoventry.
Eveninthefamilyhome,thesplitsbecame–literally–unspeakable.Therewas
no shelter. The new society that had prided itself for 140 years on having left
every sectarian prejudice of race and religion back in the old world recognised
theappearanceinitsmidstofvisceralhatreds.
The tour continued, however, and the excerpt that follows from my book
1981:TheTourpicksupattheendofthetourastheSpringboksreachedAuck-
land,toplayfirstaprovincialgameandthenthethirdandlasttestmatch.
GeoffChapple
May2014
3
Auckland
If you read the book it was easy, the phases of the anti-tour protest clear. Phase
one–protestinitiativesagainstanill-preparedpoliceforce,endingwithanoccu-
pationofHamilton’sRugbyPark.
Phasetwo–astateinitiative,signalledatMolesworthStreetandPalmerston
North:stateforcetowhateverlevelnecessarytostoptheprotestshortofitstar-
gets.
The protest movement had matched the heavily defended perimeters of the
phasetwodevelopmentwithachessboardstrategy,fullyrefinedbyWellington,
theprotestforcesbrokenintosquadstoproberightaroundtheperimeters.
Yet within that chessboard contest there had been no major protest victory.
Minorwins–hereandthereagroupofpeoplethroughtothefences.Propaganda
wins too: the fact of the riot lines and the barbed wire round the rugby grounds
wasanimagetotheworldofstrongoppositiontothetour.Apropagandavictory
alsothatmostoftheviolenceatthetestsiteshadcomefromthepoliceside.
Yetnostrategicvictory.AsthetourcameuptoAucklandthefrustrationof
thatfact,andthesprawlinganarchicnatureofthecityitself,hadproducedamore
complexprotestpsychologythanhadprevailedpreviously.
Therewaspressuretotakestrategyonpastthechessboardstyle,toacknow-
ledge that the movement had milked every propaganda victory out of the riot
lines, to acknowledge that strategically a break-through of the police perimeter,
thentheno-man’slandofmobilepatrolsanddogteams,thenthebarbedwireand
fencesoftheparkperimeter,thentherugbycrowd,thenthewirearoundtheplay-
ingfield,wasallbutimpossibleforacivilianprotest.
On to phase three – but to do what? Anything. Perhaps on the final days to
boycottthewholedeal.Toburntheprotectivegear.…nottomakeanymore.If
you read the book it was easy: like some dungeons and dragons saga you could
leafaheadtoseethehundredsofinjurieswhichawaitedifMOSTpersistedinthe
phasetwomode.Youcouldholdthetourinthehandofacoolerunderstanding,
tickoffthefirsttwophases,anddemandsomeadvanceofstrategy.
Buttherewasnobook.The1981tourprotestwentontrappedinitsowntime
andatmospheres.Amassprotest.Amassemotionturmoiling,andonlyonephys-
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Auckland
icalacttosatisfyit.On-fieldonelasttime.There.Athousandpeople.Thefinish.
MOST was the single coalition that had tasted an on-field victory, and the
ideaofitstillservedasaninspiration.Thetourprotestalsohadtobeunderstood
as a highly regional enterprise. MOST had yet to attempt the phase two, chess-
boardstyleofprotest.
For such reasons, the demonstration committee of MOST brought out the
mapsandplannedanotherencircling,probingcampaignaroundarugbypark.It
kepttheprotestatphasetwo,butifyou’daskedacommittee member likeJohn
Mintowherethepark-orientedimpulsecamefrom,hewouldhavepointedback
totheplenarysessionsandthestreet.
‘People who joined our marches saw the games as the focus and anything
thatdidn’tgotothepark,tothegame,wasseentobenotreallydoinganything.
Ourownpeoplelockedusintothatparkmentality,andthefocusoftheAuckland
gamesbecamethat.’
Aucklandsportsstoressoldoutofgroinprotectors,shinpads,cricketgloves,
ice-hockeymasks.Itwastobephasetwoprotest,butwithadeterminationanda
militancynotyetmatchedonthetour.
YetitwasMOST’sboastalsothatitstayedloose,andinalliancewiththecoali-
tiontheAucklandprotestwasdevelopingintoathirdphaseanyway.
The coalition had its own plan for the mass protest, but beyond that was a
huge free-wheeling release – individual and group initiatives to build a creative
anarchy of protest around the tour. Long-established women’s groups like the
Women’sInternationalLeagueforPeaceandFreedomadvertisedthroughtheco-
alitionfortheirblacksashmarches,buttheorganisationwastheirs,hundredsof
womenmovingupthemainstreetsofAucklandandTakapunaonaFridaynight
in single file. Special action groups planning their targets and coming back to
MOSTonlyforfinanceandbriefdiscussionwithaMOSTcoordinatortoelimin-
ateanyduplicationofthetargets.Initiativessmallorlarge,andoneofthelargest
wasArtistsAgainstApartheid.Itwasnewlyestablished,amemberorganisation
of MOST, but one of the leading voices in the dialectic between phase two and
phasethreeprotest.
ThetripleAlightbulbfirstflashedintheheadofTimShadboltashewaitedone
AugustSaturdayintheexerciseyardoftheOtahuhupolicestationwithotherar-
restees.Theusual:someonespray-paintingthewallswithanuncapturedaerosol
can,desultorychants–andasyoulookedaround,anewpattern.BarryLett,the
sculptorWallaceSutherland,thepottersPeterLangeandLexDawson,thewriter
TomFruian.Politicallycommittedartists!
Shadbolt sent out a fly-sheet later, which went through most of the artistic
centresofAuckland.I’msurewecanprovethepenandpaintbrushcanbemigh-
tierthanthelongbaton.HeconvenedameetingforSundayAugust23.
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‘Whatdoyoudowithahalf-bakedrevolution,andahalf-bakedarmywhichnev-
ershouldbefighting?’
Sunday: Shadbolt standing there in the big space of a defunct 1970s exper-
iment.SometimebeforethehouseinGlenEdenandthemortgage,thisbuilding
atHuia,acommuneheadquarterscombiningtheverticalaspirationofacolonial
church with the rudimentary carpentry of the alternative life-styler. The wil-
derness creeping back from years of neglect, the windows cobwebbed, dust on
unfinished mezzanine levels, but given new life now under emergency condi-
tions.Thebigroomjammedwithpeople–actors,writers,poets,artists–sitting
aboutonmattresses,thekidsrunningaroundoutside.
TheShadboltanalysis:fromPalmerstonNorthonward,nothingshortofare-
volutionwouldhavestoppedthetour.Thepossibilityofthatwasnil.
A revolution was led, typically, by a middle-class intelligentsia stirring up
working class support, and of all issues it was impossibly difficult to gain such
supportagainstasportfundamentaltoworking-classculture–rugby.
The strength of the tour protest was the white middle-class, acting on a
question of principle, and the confrontations with violence so often the result.
… Shadbolt felt the tactic as it had emerged almost by default – of placing
middle-class people against the batons – was wrong. The confrontations were
scaringpeopleaway–afactthatwasreflectedinthedrop-offinnumberbetween
thosewho’dprotestedatthebigmobilisationsandthosewhoattendedmatch-day
demonstrations.Shadboltbelievedthatconfrontationwithoutnegotiationwasn’t
workingasatacticbutnorwasitnowworkingaspropaganda.
‘Theanti-tourmovementisstartingtolookabitlikeaterroristsuicidegroup
that few Kiwis will identify with. The organisation is developing its own insan-
ity,andifyoualienateyourselffromthepeople,they’llcutyouoff.Ifyou’rean
inchahead,youleadthem.Ifyou’reayardahead,they’llfuckencutyouoffdead
mate.’
Thealternative hesuggestedwastoemployactsofcreative sabotage.They
appealedtothemedia,andbeyondthattotheNewZealandpublic,whoseapprov-
alwasbeingbattledfor.BesidetheMOSTtacticofconfrontation,hesuggested
an alternative was to use the creative mind of the artist to think their way into
EdenPark.Bysignsinthesky,byaerial assault ofkites andballoons toshatter
thespell-bindingplayersandaudienceintooneunitastheywatchedtheirgame.
Themeetingbuzzedallafternoon.Theartistsfloatingupandovertheperi-
meters to the rugby grounds. It was the same zooming imagination that had
accompaniedthetourprotestthroughout,butconcentratednow.Sensible,imme-
diatelyachievableoptionsputforward:totransformthebattleatmospheresofthe
confrontation protest into something closer to a people’s pageant with brighter
posters,flags.Wilderoptions:schemestopostpeopleinrows,battingathousand
tennisballsintothestadium.Theliberationofhivesofbees,herdsofcows.Cata-
pults.Hotairballoonslaunchedfromwindward.Hotairballoons!
By 4.30 p.m. the AAA had a formal existence. It had a membership fee, a
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Auckland
treasurer, Shadbolt as secretary. Decisions had been made in two major areas.
The AAA would organise a large-scale street march sometime before the third
test. That decision was important, for at Huia was the genesis of the largest cit-
izen’smarchtobeheldwhiletheSpringboktourwasstillinNewZealand.
AndsecondlytheAAAwouldlaunchaseriesofcreativeprotests.Anaerial
assaultonthepark,thesimulatederuptionofMtEdencrater…alotofstuff…
creative chaos. … It felt like electricity coursing through a new channel. What
madethemeetingexcitingwasthatforthefirsttimeabigsectionoftheartsworld
hadcometogetheratapoliticalcrisispoint.Itstimulatedeveryone,broughtthem
together and sent them out renewed. Stanley Palmer, as one example, returned
home todesign the hugesilk banners that would become afeature ofthe Auck-
landmarchesfromthenon.
A steadily expanding police operation turned Eden Park into the most heavily
fortified venue of the tour. Not just waste-taker bins now to narrow the throat
ofeveryapproachstreet400metresoutfromthepark.Steelshippingcontainers
now,incombinationwiththebinsatthemorevulnerableintersections.Asecond
innercircleoffallbackbarricades200metresinfromthefirst.
Notjustbarbedwirecoilsaroundtheplayingfield,andstrungindoublecoils
aroundthemostvulnerablesectionsoftheparkexterior,butdensezig-zagform-
ationsofbarbedwiretocountertheuseofgrapnels.
The western side of Eden Park was the most vulnerable, and the defence
there was three-fold and formidable. Out from the park, barbed wire coils were
laidparalleltotherailwaylines,tohaltanyfloodoftheprotestdownfromNew
NorthRoad.Andbecauseofthemetalrailroadbed,policetherewouldbeissued
withshieldsforthefirsttimeontour.Furtherin,theSandringhamRoadsideof
theparkwasasolidwallofthreemetre-highshippingcontainers.Insidethatwas
the boundaryfence that enclosed the number twofield, andthat field wascriss-
crossedwiththezig-zagwire.
Numerically,thepolicestrengthatAucklandwasbeingpumpedupto2,200,
nearlyhalfoftheentireNewZealandpoliceforce,andadistinctsuperventionof
Commissioner Walton’s claim, after Hamilton, that police strength at the main
rugby venues would be scaled drastically upwards but would never comprise
morethanaquarteroftheforce.
Thespecialistriotsquadshadbeenexpandedtosix,andalmosteverybarrier
would be staffed by riot squad police – green, gold, white or black – while the
original two, the blue and red squads, would have a roving function inside the
perimeter.
ThetourwheeledintoAucklandasajuggernautwithsteelsides,barbedwire
interiors and a general issue of long batons to empty your eye sockets or crack
yourjawbone.Ifallthatwasn’tenough,thearmyunitsonsecretstandbyatpre-
viousmatchsitesweresupplementednowbyNavyriotcontrolgroups–onalert.
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MOSThadstreamedthecoreofitsprotestintothreemainsquads,eachofthem
capableofbreakingintotwoorthreesub-groups.Latentwithineachsquadwasa
determinationtogothroughthepoliceperimeteriftheopportunitypresented,but
withinthatoveralldeterminationthethreesquadshaddifferinglevelsofcommit-
menttotheaction.
Tutuwasregardedaslowaction,withalotofchurchpeopleinitsranks,and
LabourPartyadherents.Bikowasmedian,unwillingtobreachpolicelinesifthey
existedinstrengthbutwithoneofitssectionsplanningactively toevadepolice
lines and make a run for the ground. Another section had refined the Welling-
tonshieldtechniquetomakeaunit,formidablyprotected,whichwascapableof
goingforward,back,sideways,keepingformationandoncommand.Biko’score
wasuniversityandteachers’trainingcollegestudents,alsosomeWorkersCom-
munistLeaguepeople.
The first two squads were named for leaders of the anti-apartheid struggle
inSouthAfrica,butPatuwasnamedbyRebecca Evans.Fromthetour’sbegin-
ningEvansandtheotherMāoriontheMOSTdemonstrationcommittee,Donna
Awatere, had chosen to link the issue of apartheid with the issue of racism in
NewZealand.Sincethebeginning,oneoftheAucklandchantswas:Kawhawhai
tonu mātou, ake, ake, ake – patu! The name of the third squad was taken from
there and meant to hit. Its core membership included most of the black groups,
somegangmembers,thewhiteandblacklesbianstogetherwithsomeMetropol-
itanCollegepeopleandothersfromtheSocialistActionLeague.
Patu was acknowledged as the section most likely to breach police lines.
Thirty-threeofitsthirty-sevenmarshalswerewomen.
Nomoodexistedforcompromise.DuringtalkswiththeAucklandmayor,Colin
Kay, to get a permit for the AAA’s grand march, Tim Shadbolt had tossed in
thepossibilityof500protestersonEdenParkbeforetheAucklandgamewhilea
spokespersonaddressedtherugbycrowdfor10minutes.
To Shadbolt’s surprise, the proposal began to lift off. Police Commissioner
Walton heard it, put a ceiling of fifty protesters inside the park, and forwarded
theideatotheNewZealandRugbyUnion.NZRUrepresentatives flewupfrom
Wellingtontonegotiateacompromise:someprotestersinsidethepark,andaPA
address,inreturntheoutsidesiegecalledoff.
ButtheMOSTmeetingrefusedtoendorsetheproposal.MOST’sappointed
negotiators, headed by Andrew Beyer, were instructed to keep the number of
protestersinsidethegroundatalevelunacceptabletothepoliceandrugbyestab-
lishments. Nor would the MOST negotiators give any guarantee to withold the
outsideprotest.Theprotestandanyoftheestablishmentthathadbroughtthetour
in,defendedit,weretwoseparatecoastlinesstill.Betweenthemthecableswere
cutandfewferriesplying.
ListeningtotheMOSTplenarywasGeoffWalpole,aforty-four-year-oldex-
vicar from Porirua. He’d come up from Wellington on a computers-in-schools
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