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Kōrero: The New Zealanders

Protesters and rugby fans in conflict, 1981

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Protestors and rugby fans in conflict, 1981

In 1981 the central importance of rugby to New Zealanders’ identity was challenged by massive protests against the tour of the South African Springboks. Here protesters and rugby fans battle one another outside Auckland’s Eden Park on the day of the last rugby test. In one sense they were fighting over what it meant to be a New Zealander.

Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi

Alexander Turnbull Library, Dominion Post Collection (PA-Group-00685)

Reference: EP/1081/2657/9

by Don Scott

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

Ngā whakaahua me ngā rauemi katoa o tēnei kōrero

Me pēnei te tohu i te whārang

Jock Phillips, The New Zealanders – Ordinary blokes and extraordinary sheilas, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/mi/photograph/1985/protesters-and-rugby-fans-in-conflict-1981 (accessed 4 June 2026).

He kōrero nā Jock Phillips, i tāngia i te 4 March 2009, updated 1 May 2015.

Comments

cherrie
09 June 2011
i was there and it was worth it........... HART.... Halt All Racist Tours xx cheri
Derek JR
17 October 2010
Pictures speak a thousand words! All I can say is, I bet the guy holding the stick hit the ground like a lead baloon just after this photo was taken. The guy is winding up to sock him right in the guts! Love the motorcycle helmets too!