Causes of the 1981 Springbok Tour
There were a range of causes that led to the 1981 Springbok Tour and all the protest that surrounded the 54 days the tour lasted through July, August and September. During this time there was still apartheid in South Africa which was the segregation or discrimination on people on the grounds of their race. Many New Zealanders believed that it would be wrong to let a racist South Africa come to our country and with their white only team and policies. They believed by doing this the government was just accepting apartheid as being okay. “It was clear that those that were opposed to apartheid believed that by isolating South African sport the ability to force real change increased.” Many New Zealanders believed that the NZRFU should have not allowed the tour to come to New Zealand and then if the NZRFU weren’t going to do it then the New Zealand government should have stepped in and stopped it. People for the tour believed that “politics and sport don’t mix” so therefore they believed that it was the right decision that the New Zealand didn’t step in. By allowing the tour it caused Muldoon to be accused of breaking the 1977 Gleneagles Agreement which was to form the common policy on sporting with South Africa amongst the Commonwealth, signed after the boycott of the Montreal Olympics in 1976.