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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 were held 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. Police had set up a wall of units around the stadium, around 650 policemen many armed with batons and some on horseback.

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. In addition, a gigantic anti-apartheid effigy was hung from the Sydney Harbour Bridge but subsequently cut down.

Queensland premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen declared a month-long state of emergency. Protests at the Tower Mill Motel where the South African team were staying were responded to by police. 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. A two-metre chain wire fence was erected to separate players and spectators, backed up by police in full riot gear standing ten meters apart and facing the spectators.

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. They were successful in this regard as the cricket tour was called off due to security reasons.

Seven players of the Australia national rugby union team – Jim Boyce, Tony Abrahams, Paul Darveniza, Terry Forman, Barry McDonald, James Roxburgh and Bruce Taafe – who had previously toured South Africa for three months in 1969 and seen the effects of the "ruthless" apartheid system "both in everyday life in South Africa and within the rugby stadiums themselves", declared "their opposition to the continuation of sporting ties with the South African Republic". Dubbed the "Rugby Seven" and the "Anti-Apartheid Seven", their non-violent action was an "unprecedented stance in refusing to play against the Springboks".

The anti-apartheid protests had influenced the cancellation of the South African cricket team tour in Australia in 1971–72.

Fixtures

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

Opposing Team	F	A	Date	Venue
Western Australia	44	18	26 June 1971	Perth
South Australia	43	0	30 June 1971	Adelaide
Victoria	50	0	3 July 1971	Melbourne
Sydney	21	12	6 July 1971	Sydney
New South Wales	25	3	10 July 1971	Sydney
New South Wales Country	19	3	13 July 1971	Orange
Australia	19	11	17 July 1971	SCG, Sydney
Australian Capital Territory	34	3	21 July 1971	Canberra
Queensland	33	14	24 July 1971	Brisbane
Junior Wallabies	31	12	27 July 1971	Brisbane
Australia	14	6	31 July 1971	Brisbane Exhibition Ground, Brisbane
Queensland Country	45	14	3 August 1971	Toowoomba
Australia	18	6	7 August 1971	SCG, Sydney

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

First try: Piet Visagie

• 7 August 1971 – Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney. South Africa 18–6 Australia

See also

• 1981 South Africa rugby union tour of New Zealand

References

1. People's History of Australia (9 April 2020). "People's History of Australia Podcast. Episode 3 – Racists go home! Protesting the 1971 Springbok tour of Australia". The Commons Social Change Library. Retrieved 28 February 2023.
2. ^ "Mild in the streets". The Age. 25 April 2005.
3. ^ "Focus on Springbok tour on eve of anniversary - Media @ UOW". media.uow.edu.au. Archived from the original on 30 March 2016.
4. "The Guardian". Archived from the original on 25 August 2006. Retrieved 12 June 2006.
5. myPolice (14 February 2017). "FROM the VAULT - Springbok Tour of Queensland". Museum. Retrieved 17 September 2021.
6. "50th Anniversary of the 'Tower Mill' Protests | State Library Of Queensland". www.slq.qld.gov.au. 23 July 2021. Retrieved 17 September 2021.
7. "Brisbane Exhibition Ground - Austadiums". www.austadiums.com.
8. "Sport at the Exhibition Grounds - EPA/QPWS". Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 9 August 2007.
9. Burghmann 2008.
10. James Middleton, Breaking the rules: the campaign in Australia against apartheid, Greenleft Weekly, 17 November 1993. Retrieved 30 July 2024. 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.
11. Wallabies hooker among ‘Anti-Apartheid Seven’ was eminent neurologist, The Sydney Morning Herald, 13 June 2024. Retrieved 30 July 2024.
12. Spiro Zavos, How the Wallabies battled against apartheid in South Africa, The Sydney Morning Herald, 30 September 2016. Retrieved 30 July 2024.
13. "The 1971 Springbok tour". blogs.sport24.co.za. 24 December 2011. Archived from the original on 4 July 2012. Retrieved 26 November 2013.

Further reading

• Larry Writer, Pitched Battle: In the Frontline of the 1971 Springbok Tour of Australia, Melbourne: Scribe Publications, 2006.

External links

• Breaking the rules: the campaign in Australia against apartheid - Green Left Weekly, 7 December 2005
• History Of The Game, rugby.com.au - includes match image
• Arielle Bernhardt, Australians block cricket and impede rugby tour of apartheid South Africa, 1971, The Commons Library
• Meredith Burgmann, The Sydney Morning Herald, "The day apartheid was hit for six", 23 August 2008
• Mild in the streets. The Sydney Morning Herald, 29 April 2005
• Springbok Tour Protests Remembered, 1 July 2001
• Focus on Springboks tour on eve of anniversary - University of Wollongong media release, 2001
• Sport at Exhibition Grounds - Environmental Protection Agency, Queensland
• Springboks 1971 - Radio National's The Sports Factor with Amanda Smith, 29 June 2001
• TV Programs worth watching, The Guardian, 9 November 2005 - review of the ABC documentary, Political Football
• Go Home Springboks - Radio National's Hindsight with Claudia Taranto, 7 September 2003

v t e Rugby union tours of Australia
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