The 1981 Springbok Tour of New Zealand was a major historical event that involved a lot of protest action. The protests aimed at the apartheid regime ruleing South Africa at the time. These protests had many causes and effects with over 100,000 people taking part in over 200 demonstrations in across New Zealand.
The majority of pro-tour groups made up of people from ruralareas, they believed that politics and sport should not be mixed. The anti-tour movement was largly made up of educated urban New Zealanders who saw moral and ethical fault in a decision to allow a country, internationaly recognised for its racist policies to tour New Zealand. They believed it was immoral to let racially selected teams come to New Zealand as it sent a message to the world that New Zealand didnt mind racist policies.
The springbok tours gave a voice to many New Zealanders and was infulential in improving the cultural realtions in society that we as Kiwi's pride ourselves on today.
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