1977 Gleneagles Agreement
Another key cause of the 1981 Springbok tour protests was the introduction of the 1977 Gleneagles Agreement, and the manner of which New Zealand did not obey it. Following the meeting of Commonwealth nation's leaders, it was agreed to introduce the 1977 Gleneagles Agreement. This agreement looked to battle against the deeply resented Apartheid and looked for the Commonwealth nations to boycott all sport involving South Africa. Gleneagles agreement read:
"they accepted it as the urgent duty of each of their Governments vigorously to combat the evil of apartheid by withholding any form of support for, and by taking every practical step to discourage contact or competition by their nationals with sporting organisations, teams or sportsmen from South Africa or from any other country where sports are organised on the basis of race, colour or ethnic origin." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gleneagles_Agreement)
However, New Zealand Prime Minister Rob Muldoon looked to test the Gleneagles, stating that politics should stay out of sport. Upon this, Muldoon gave the all clear for the NZRFU to invite South Africa for a tour in 1980, for the following year. This outraged the public of New Zealand, and of course, internationally. People thought New Zealand condoned the Apartheid and was clearly ignoring the Gleneagles agreement. More importantly, the people of New Zealand knew their government had the power to stop the tour, but chose not to.
A large range of newspaper cartoons from the time can be found, showing the New Zealand public's dissatisfaction with Muldoon's choice.
A large range of newspaper cartoons from the time can be found, showing the New Zealand public's dissatisfaction with Muldoon's choice.
Peter Bromhead, 'Aren't you pinning this on the wrong bloke', 22 July 1981. This cartoon shows Robert Muldoon giving a death certificate to a man representing the Gleneagles Agreement while on the floor a man, representing New Zealand's reputation, is committing suicide with a sword labelled 'the tour'.
(NZhistory)
The fact that Muldoon had signed the Gleneagles agreement, accepting to oppose and discourage racism and more importantly the Apartheid, but contradicting their agreement by inviting South Africa to tour the nation angered many people. With this disappointment, various movement groups such as Halt All Racist Tours (HART) and Citizens Association for Racial Equality (CARE) emerged and looked to oppose their governments wishes, creating awareness and marches in order to prevent the tour from proceeding, leading to the 1981 Springbok tour protests.
Key Historical Ideas
-Although New Zealand, part of the commonwealth, accepted the Gleneagles Agreement in 1977, they continued to proceed to invite the racist South African rugby team to tour the nation in 1981
-NZ public were outraged that NZ government was not fulfilling their task in the agreement, leading to various responses such as the rise of such anti-tour groups HART and CARE.
-NZ public were outraged that NZ government was not fulfilling their task in the agreement, leading to various responses such as the rise of such anti-tour groups HART and CARE.