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Recently, a long-overdue apology was made to the Maori people by both the South African and New Zealand Rugby Unions for their Apartheid-era role in denying Maoris a right to play in rugby matches involving South Africa and New Zealand.
Or, in the cases where they were selected, forcing them to wear the odious tag of “honorary white”.
It got me thinking about a little-known section of Australian Rugby history concerning the 1971 Springbok tour of Australia.
In 2005, the ABC broadcast a documentary called “Political Football”.
The story concerned six Wallabies (Barry McDonald, Jim Roxburgh, Antony Abrahams, Terry Foreman, Paul Darvenisa, and Bruce Taafe) who came to the conclusion that, for them, playing the racially-selected Springbok side would amount to condoning Apartheid.
They decided to withdraw themselves from the selection process for the 1971 tour. This refusal to make themselves available for national-team selection on political grounds was unprecedented in Australia.
According to surveys, 85 percent of Australians at the time thought the tour should go ahead, and Prime Minister McMahon declared the ‘Wallaby 6’ a “disgrace to their country”.
I recall a former Wallaby saying, in the ABC documentary, that he didn’t know what all the fuss was about, that “it was just a game”, “sports and politics shouldn’t mix”, etc.
Obviously, he was wrong, and history has vindicated the stance of the six Wallabies.
Despite overwhelming national support for the 1971 tour, militant elements of the student population, along with various anti-apartheid groups, had a different opinion.
Chaos ensued, with Queensland Premier, Joh Bjelke-Petersen, no doubt pleased at being gifted an excuse to crack-down on dissent in his state, calling a “state of emergency.”
Two-metre high fences were erected around the grounds (ala football, Argentina-style!); protesters tried to saw the goal posts in half in Sydney; police tear-gassed demonstrators; and matches were moved or called off entirely.
Following this, in 1972, the newly-elected Gough Whitlam moved to ban Australian sporting teams from playing Springbok sides, as long as they remained racially selected.
This decision led to increasing pressure for economic sanctions, eventually paving the way for the international boycott of South Africa which, along with internal South-African resistance, resulted in the collapse of the Apartheid regime.
The point that should be of most interest to us as Australian Rugby supporters is the fact that the six Wallaby ‘refuseniks’ were effectively blacklisted by the national Union of the day, with only one ever being selected for the national side again, and none ever being welcomed back into the fold.
Obviously, this blacklisting by the Australian Rugby Union does not compare to the racist actions of the New Zealand and South African Unions towards the Maoris.
However, an interesting comparison can be made with the story of Peter Norman, the Australian athlete who wore a badge in support of civil rights whilst standing on the podium at the 1968 Olympics, next to the two famous African-American runners as they made the famous ‘Black Power’ salute.
Peter Norman, too, was blacklisted by the Australian Athletics organisation (this story has actually been made into an interesting film).
I wasn’t born at the time of the Springbok Tours, and I’m unaware of whether the ARU has made a retrospective apology for the blacklisting, or at least given the six Wallabies credit for the small, but important, part they played in opening the eyes of the world to what was going on in South Africa.
To quote the ABC website, this is a story about “a group of relatively unknown Australian sportsmen, who dared to swim against the current, and sacrificed their personal ambitions for the sake of a principle.”
I think it’s time we recognised them.
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.