Apartheid was one of the leading causes of the Springbok Tour protests
Perhaps one of the key factors of the protests surrounding the Springbok Tour was the Apartheid. Apartheid was an extremely reactionary and unique system of political control first legislated after the Nationalist Party came to power in South Africa in 1948. Apartheid classified every individual in South Africa by race. Around eighty-seven percent of the land was reserved for whites; as for the remainder of the people, which included groups like “coloreds” and Indians a mere thirteen percent of the land was divided into ten ‘homelands’ for blacks which at the time was about 75% of the total population of South Africa.
They set up facilities that were only available to white people who were considered the superior race - they also allocated facilities to “colored” people such facilities included education, health, employment etc. but many of these facilities were vastly inferior to those facilities set up for the white people
Trains and buses were racially segregated, as were public beaches, with the best ones reserved for whites. Public swimming pools and libraries were segregated. There were few black pools or libraries. Sex and marriage between the races was prohibited. Trade unions were segregated and black unions not recognized.
"And, most importantly for New Zealanders, apartheid totally segregated South African sport.
Because of this many people in New Zealand and over the world felt that it was not acceptable in this time to have such segregation still going on and treating one race as superior to the other when in many countries both races were considered equals and no segregation should be occurring this meant many people felt we should not be encouraging sporting ties with South Africa if this was going to be happening, The 1972 tour where the All Blacks went to tour in South Africa for three months helped to park the protests, South Africa was not going to allow New Zealand to sent a multi race team we had to sent and all white All Blacks team but protests against this flared up and soon South Africa relented saying they would accept the Maori people as “honorary whites” as mentioned in the groups involved. When the tour arrived in New Zealand in 1981 many people protested so that their voices did not go unheard. But Aparthied in South Africa was most definitely a leading cause in the Springbok Tour 1981 protest
The All Blacks accepted an invitation to tour South Africa in 1976 – a time when world attention was firmly fixed on the republic because of the Soweto riots. Hundreds were killed as the authorities ruthlessly suppressed protests. An All Blacks’ tour under such conditions was not only intolerable to many New Zealanders but also attracted international condemnation. Black African nations boycotted the 1976 Montreal Olympics in protest, firmly putting sports and politics back onto the same stage.
Gleneagles was a turning point in the event
Another key cause of the Springbok Tour protests was the Gleneagles agreement, the Gleneagles Agreement was a pledge made by the main leaders of the commonwealth nations in 1977 to discourage sport contact with South Africa, so no sports tours etc. The agreement was made during a conference at Gleneagles Hotel in Scotland. The main aim of this policy was to put pressure on the South African government to get rid of their policies of apartheid, this policy was the marking of the first time countries had come together to try and implement a change on South Africa. South Africa repealed all of its apartheid laws during the 1970's, 1980's, and early 1990's.
However, it was well known that South Africa was New Zealand’s biggest competitor in the sport of rugby. Even though Prime Minister Robert Muldon had signed an agreement with the commonwealth he had made his point very clear that the government would not allow political interference in sport of any form. The NZRFU took this as a sign that it would be all right to invite the South African team over to New Zealand for a sporting exchange so in Septembers 1980 NZRFU invited South Africa to tour the following year. The deputy Prime Minister at the time was worried about the consequences that this might have on the nation so he expressed his concern to NZRFU and about how he thought that if such a tour was going to go ahead we would be ignoring Gleneagles and we would be accepting of what was happening in South Africa. Robert Muldon soon stepped in and said that he could see “nothing but trouble coming from this” but when he was approached about the option of cancelling the tour he spoke “our kith and kin” and he then went on to make the famous statement that “politics should stay out of sport”.
Picture showing what it was like to live in South Africa during the time of Apartheid http://edtech2.boisestate.edu/lockwoodm/Collapse/south_africa.htm