81 Springbok Tour..Where were you..?

[terbang]

Which side of the fence were you during the 1981 tour..? Why..? And do you stilll have the same views..?
Lets give the cops a break here as they were only doing a job though I reckon its open slather on the politics of the time..

[spudchucka]

Which side of the fence were you during the 1981 tour..? Why..? And do you stilll have the same views..?
Lets give the cops a break here as they were only doing a job though I reckon its open slather on the politics of the time..

In 1981 I was in the 4th form. I didn't really pay much attention to it at the time, I wasn't overly into rugby and was more interested in girls and bikes.

[Sniper]

Bullshit publicity stunt.

I was the twinkle in dads eye

[Patrick]

I was into rugby and mowed the lawns early to watch the Waikato game. Boy was I pissed off... they were big bloody lawns! Was a teen at the time.

"Cops should have let the crowd go at them" was my thoughts at the time.

Watched the crowds having a go at Cops with razor blades in thier shields, the patched up gang shitheads there only coz they wanted a crack at a copper... like they give a shit about Politics and South Africas aparthied... Heard about firefudge being used against the cops as well...

Could never understand why the protesters wanted to resort to violence/push through Police lines/ refuse to listen to directions about "Don't come through this line of baton wielding Police Officers...you will be hurt."

They already had the world media attention.

Programme on TV1 right now about the Tour and the Clowns... gonna watch. Bye

[Lou Girardin]

I was on motorway patrol watching a herd of protesters close the Northwestern m/way.
I was slightly out-numbered.
I had a cop friend injured for life by them too.
Despite this, I believe the proteters did what had to be done.

[terbang]

I was 21 and a young flying instructor at the time. I attended a protest at eden park with the peaceful intention to stop aparthied. I was a little naive and wasn't fully sure of the politics of South Africa though I had been to london and witnessed the Vigil outside south africa house and I figured that the black guys were getting a bum deal. I observed some acts of violence and also one of the aeroplanes that I was currently flying being was used as a weapon. I was pissed off with both sides on that day and became rather disillusioned as the protest had also atacked the safety culture that I was part of.. My dad nearly disowned me and my employers threatened to sack me..It was an interesting time in my life to say the least.
However after all these years and putting aside the bad deeds done by both sides, Aparthied is gone and is now a dirty word so the intent at that time was probably correct with maybe the methods being the questionable part...? I have since become friends with an awsome South African family that I flatted with whilst living in Switzerland. They are Africaans (Boer) and are similar age to me and their story is different again and also one of hardship. So all these years later maybe a simple game of sport was all the tour was really about..?

[Jantar]

I had mixed feelings art the time, as I was opposed to South African racism, but I was also a rugby fan.

I managed to stay true to both feelings by watching every match on TV and at the same holding a sign up to the screen that said 'SA go home".. Natuarally I held the sign in such a way that it didn't impede my view of the matches.

[WINJA]

i was the guy that bottled the cop on the head in morningside , i choose one who didnt have a helmet on, that was a real good day , almost as good as the day we rioted on queen st when dave dobyn told us to

[Patrick]

Baaa...Baaaaaaaaaa... Flock of sheep...

[Oakie]

Hmm. 21 years old and getting ready to leave home. I was wallpapering my bedroom as a thank you to mum for putting up with me and decided that having stripped the old wallpaper off and being faced with a blank wall that it would be cool to write some stuff on that wall. That included my thoughts on the Tour. If you want to know what I wrote .... the adress is 11 Ure St, Oamaru. Downstairs bedroom ... the wall on the left as you walk in. Oh, you'll have to strip the new wallpaper off.


Oh OK. I wanted to watch the rugby and got pissed off with the protestors for going beyond their right to protest and disrupting other people's lives.

[Skyryder]

I marched on two occasions. Never went to match demos'. That's what got the media attention. All the abuse and violence I experianced was from the pro rugby crowd. Copped a lot of shit from work becasue of my views. Was at the QEII Veteran games when a HART supporter ran out on interferred with one of the SA runners. This guy was attacked while the police stood back and watched before stepping in. Later I saw a big German competitor king hit the guy while he was handcuffed. Again the police saw this coming and did nothing to stop it. They just told the German to go back into the stadium. I found out years later that the protester now suffers permament brain damage.

Up until that time I was a fence sitter but that incedent made me a little more active. On occasions I hear how the police at the time were impartial. That's bullshit. They saw it nothing but an excuse to go after the Trevor Richards and later John Minto supporters. I still do not entirely trust the police because of what I saw At QEII. I might add that at the time I worked QEII so I had acesss to the entire stadium.

Skyryder

[Colapop]

I was 11 and my old man took me to Athletic park. We watched rugby and had a hotdog. It was cool. Then my Dad and me went home. Mum made us pancakes for tea. Politics was something that the newsman talked about.

[Joni]

I was 9... remember my father being real angry and saying sport is sport leave politics out of it! I had no clue what was going on, but hey that what happens when you grow up in Johannesburg you only realise things later in life....

[Hitcher]

I was living in Auckland at the time. We moved flat the weekend of the Auckland test -- from Sandringham to Forrest Hill -- and had to drive through Police check-points with our trailer-loads of stuff, which the Cops ratted through each time we went past.

I was easy-osey about the whole thing. But this issue split families in half -- hurt that still hasn't healed in some circumstances.

I believe that if this tour had gone on for one more game, people would have been killed.

[Al]

I was 17 yrs old, in my second last year of school before having to go to the army (conscription).
At that stage I was playing rugby and riding motorbikes and, as my parents were not "political", we had a peaceful time...
Lived on a game ranch which my parents owned and played a lot of soccer against the african kids (learnt a lot too...!)
Oh yes, also shot defenceless buck and took foreign tourists around in the landrover!

Such was life...

Al