Rugby helped shape male identity in New Zealand. Perhaps due to the All Blacks’ sustained international success, it even shaped a national identity, the notion of ‘New Zealandness’.
Rugby has been called the Kiwis’ greatest religion.
When I visited in 2011, I was able to confirm this theory. Everywhere I went, I saw fields in good repair, and boys were playing the game, supervised or unsupervised, with great skill.
The colleges’ games were well attended, and everything about the national team – including Richie McCaw’s foot – was fully analysed.
From the moment we set foot in the Auckland airport until the night we left, we felt blessed rugby saturation. Admittedly, the World Cup was on, but from the time when miners and villagers first adopted the game, rugby has had a home in New Zealand.
In Greg McGee’s searing critique on the role of rugby in New Zealand, a local coach tells a player “This is a team game, son, and the town is the team. It’s the team’s honour at stake when the team plays, god knows there’s not much else around here.”
This continues. In 2011, we could easily join a match in small towns, the locals only needed to see a few basic telltale signs of skill. However, when the South African connection was realised, the welcome was total.
Apparently, spontaneous scrums tended to break out in Cairo streets or London pubs when South African and New Zealand troops met each other in World War Two.
It is still that way. An able-bodied South African who meets a guy from New Zealand immediately starts looking for a way to test him. It was no different in the small towns between Auckland and Wellington.
It was if they recognised kindred spirits in rugby-mad South Africa. Every time an All Black is interviewed before a Test, I notice them commenting on how good it is to be in a rugby-obsessed culture, even if it is hostile.
But of course, the relationship between South African rugby and its counterpart in New Zealand has many levels of respect, enmity, political sacrifice and attack, as well as fables and folklore.
New Zealand was – and is – the most important rugby rival against whom South Africa could measure their prowess.
Thus, the withholding by New Zealand of rugby contests with the Springboks emerged as the most powerful leverage point in using sport – but most critically, rugby – as the fulcrum of change within the National Party’s infrastructure, attitude towards apartheid and encourage international re-engagement.
South Africa and New Zealand shared a common attribute. In both lands, they shirked off the power of the Crown with rugby shoulders, but in profoundly different ways.
Rugby was a crucial element in forging a national male identity, but in South Africa, this was almost exclusively a ‘white’ male identity.
For both nations, rugby was not just a game.
At the core of the “hard way” that the All Blacks and Springboks play rugby was a passion to be better than, and separate from, the British.
Kiwis fought the Boers on behalf of the British just before the defining 1905 tour to the U.K. South Africa learned to love rugby in the midst of the Boer Wars.
In both places, rugby was essentially compulsory in schools for many decades.
In New Zealand, it is a fair question to ask if the national rugby union is stronger than the national ruling party.
Afrikaners in particular had much of that almost religious zeal towards rugby; but given the devout nature of Afrikaans people during most of the 20th century, we should say rugby was a ‘second religion’.
Dr Danie Craven talked about rugby as having a ‘sense of belongingness’. And this is an accurate way to put it.
Both of these great rugby nations, who tended to own the first two ranks in world rugby for more than a century, were bound together in a rivalry that featured hard-fought tours, boxers as props, broken legs and noses, last-minute kicks to win or lose, and an abiding, but oft-tested love for each other.
But this marriage had always been unpopular in some parts, even as far back as the 1920s. New Zealand’s 1840 Treaty of Waitangi included Maori in the wider society. South Africa’s increasingly rigid race laws – especially after 1948 – collided with Kiwi sensibilities.
But for a long time, the two countries danced an odd dance. In 1921, the ‘Boks played the Maori All Blacks in New Zealand and won by a point. A South African reporter wrote he was “sickened” by white spectators cheering the Maori players.
And perhaps because that win was too close for comfort, and would have cut against apartheid theories, Maoris were excluded from selection on tours of South Africa for many succeeding decades.
In 1956, the country of New Zealand did not use protest as a weapon against the Boks. Rather, all Kiwis united in the goal of revenge for South Africa’s humiliating victory in 1949.
Indeed, for almost any Kiwi, almost the entire conception of South Africa was in a rugby context, and so it was for South Africans. Maybe wartime service would have been the second item they would have thought of each other.
In the sixties, the relationship became strained, to say the least. Anti-tour petitions and protests formed around the issue of Maori exclusion from tours (as Prime Minister Hendrick Verwoerd put it, “they have to abide by South Africa’s local custom.”
South Africa was barred from the Olympics in 1964 and 1968, and then expelled in 1970. But truthfully, it was the prospect of not playing the All Blacks that drove more change than any other sporting exclusion. The cancelation of the 1967 All Black tour was an earthquake in South Africa’s rugby community.
Verwoerd was assasinated, and his successor, John Vorster (a former rugby boss in the Eastern Cape) allowed Maoris to tour South Africa in 1970.
New Zealand had its own concerns about the stain of the relationship with Springbok rugby. Was it worth risking membership in the Commonwealth Games? Was it good for New Zealand to sour relations with the other African countries?
Trade between New Zealand and South Africa was negligible in those days – rugby was the glue. Yet South Africa named one of its most senior diplomats, Peter Phillip, to serve as Consul-General, not in London, but in Wellington.
In rugby, South Africa was still a dominant political force as they remained a key member of the International Rugby Board. At least rugby was still alive. This only served to bestow rugby an ever more “mystical significance,” as Norman Middleton put it.
When the 1974 tour was cancelled, it sent a cold chill through South African rugby. The reformers worried that even modest change would be too late. The dead-enders dug in. But then the 1976 tour of South Africa by the All Blacks made it seem like the marriage was not on the rocks.
And then came 1981.
A poll had it 49-42 per cent against the Boks coming to New Zealand, and the images of barbed wire fields and the cancellation of the Hamilton Test and the violent protests and police beatings brought the relationship to the edge.
We were shocked, watching it. I hoped it would help things get better, but I was amazed and embarrassed. And my New Zealand friends tell me they were so torn.
Until 1992 there were no official tours. How we missed the All Blacks and how this period eroded our skills. Doc Craven admitted it. It was obvious.
The 1986 Cavalier tour was not sufficient. We knew it was not the real thing. Test series between the two top teams had always been the unofficial championship.
With the possible exception of Wales, it was only in these two countries that rugby was culturally central.
The 1981 rupture was like an ugly divorce. Inside each country, there were sub-divides.
The relatively unexpected decision of F.W. de Klerk to reform rugby in South Africa, beyond token players or half-measures, and the subsequent (messy but needed) democratisation of the Rainbow Nation was a balm to the rugby faithful on both sides.
When we old guys cherish the spectacles of the Ellis Park matches in 2013 and 2014, we are moved by much more than the rugby.
Jibba Jabba
Guest
Yo Grahame, how did you go with that court case down south where you were likened to Rolf Harris - . did you pay the $5k and apologise to the lady?
Grahame Thorne
Roar Rookie
Yes bring up South Africa and New Zealand rugby as a topic and suddenly you have not only rugby but recipes, apartheid, corruption, scandals but also some wonderful insights into life both here and SA. Having lived in both Countries and played rugby in both I identified with many of the comments. I was at the 1981 Test at Eden Park commentating and was also at the same level as the plane as Quinn and I were on top of the No 1 stand! I enjoyed the story of the Maori playing in Cape Town. Definitely a first ! I was actually playing when the first Maori players took to the field in 1970 at the Border Rugby Ground. They were Sid Going and Buff Milner who replaced Bruce Hunter I was in SA two years ago at the 75th celebrations of the of Northern Tranvaal Rugby. SA has chnaged but the average black is still not really emancipated. There are now many very rich blacks but a lot of very poor blacks. The politicians are very much in the first group ! Keep up the discussions You can never get enough when SA /NZ comes up
RobC
Roar Guru
Hi DaniE, there are three of them. One is Master Ragu. Didnt catch name of the others :)
alex
Roar Pro
Great article Harry i nearly shed a tear while reading. As a kiwi i firmly believe the Bok are our greatest enemy and am scared when we play them. I respect Australian rugby but am not scared when we play them, thats the difference for me...
Cool, imagine the frenzy they will go into when they discover medium rare meat :lol:
grapeseed
Guest
The difference between Rugby Union and Rugby League is like the difference between a game of chess and smashing yourself in the face with a house brick.
grapeseed
Guest
I think they've just invented fire.
Mark Fredericks
Guest
What's Rugby League?
Mark Fredericks
Guest
The ANC does not perform as well as they make out. Their 'majority' has been decreasing since 1994. Unfortunately, Mandela is revived every election year, and paraded before the masses, his job? To garner votes. FYI - and sorry to Harry for this, but I do believe that all information carries value - even political information on a sports forum: 1994: Of the 23 063 910 eligible voters, 85,53 percent (19 726 610) voted while the remaining 14,47 percent (3 337 300) stayed away. The ANC received support from 53,01 percent (12 237 655) of the eligible voting population. 1999: Of the 25 411 573 eligible voters, 62,87 percent (15 977 142) voted while the remaining 37,13 percent (9 434 431) stayed away. The ANC received support from 41,72 percent (10 601 330) of the eligible voting population. 2004: Of the 27 994 712 eligible voters, 55,77 percent (15 612 671) voted while the remaining 44,23 percent (12 382 041) stayed away. The ANC received support from 38,87 percent (10 880 917) of the eligible voting population. 2009: Of the 30 224 145 eligible voters, 59,29 percent (17 919 966) voted while the remaining 40,71 percent (12 304 179) stayed away. The ANC received support from 38,55 percent (11 650 748) of the eligible voting population. 2014: Of the 31 434 035 eligible voters, 59,34 percent (18 654 457) voted while the remaining 40,66 percent (12 779 578) stayed away. The ANC received support from 36,39 percent (11 436 921) of the eligible voting population. The real danger we face is that of the disaffected voting a real tyrant into power. Let's not name names. The bottom line is though, the system has to change radically. I am not too sure how many people will be ready to accept the change. My view has always been to pre-empt the change, and become radical in thought myself. Brace myself for the challenges of the coming Zombie Apocalypse. We need to change, and the ANC/DA system might not be the way to go. I provide this information purely because of the remark you made about how well the ANC do at the polls. You can find the info on the South African Civil Society Information Services website. (SACSIS)
Mark Fredericks
Guest
I am not sure if the Museum in Palmerston North is the same museum where some memorabilia from 'black' clubs in SA would also be housed. In 1994, we hosted the touring Maori team which took part in the Super 10 competition - that was in Kimberley, at the old Assembly Hotel. Mark Mayerhofler, Reece Ellison, Zinzan Brooke, Gordon Falcon, and a youngster by the name of Carlos Spencer are some of the guys we met that night. Oh, yes, and the massive Aaron Pene.
Harry Jones
Expert
Prof, I replied to your initial post with a thanks for raising valuable points. The subsequent reaction you got was probably because you seemed to equate disagreement with "apartheid denial" or even tacit support of apartheid. I'll never resort to listing my anti-apartheid bona fides on these pages because it comes off as narcissistic, but all I'd say is my article in no way condones the exclusion of any deserving or aspiring sportsman from top rugby competition based on "race." I think you can make your points without casting aspersions on motives.
Harry Jones
Expert
Prof, the most interesting point you've raised is the school conveyer belts of Paul Roos, Grey College, Paarl Gym, Bishops, etc. I think there is a lot of raw athleticism in SA that is wasted. And when you look at some of the top talent recently (Etzebeth, Vermeulen; just to take two) they were not necessarily from the typical path.
Harry Jones
Expert
We agree more than we disagree, in fact.
DaniE
Roar Guru
Taekwondo with Master Michael and Master Fong? :D
RobC
Roar Guru
Thanks! My 12yo has Taekwondo at same time. Trying to sort it out.
DaniE
Roar Guru
Sure is Rob, practically never a weekend it's not on!
What's been going on there?
grapeseed
Guest
This has been one hell of a thread. Whatever's been going on over at the Rugby League articles, I guarantee it's not this.
Mark, thank you for your response, my question to you is how do we take our country back? You know as well as I do where the votes go regardless of how the ANC performs.
Mark Fredericks
Guest
BB (if I may call you BB), I fully agree with you about holding the ANC accountable. I don't think that I have ever shied away from that. I accosted Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula in 2011, just as he was about to leave for NZ to attend the Rugby World Cup, and handed him my business card, as well as other paraphernalia. He has never responded. I follow him on twitter and question his posts often. What the ANC gleefully omits to mention when blaming apartheid, is the fact that they democratised apartheid with their policies post 1994. They claim victory over apartheid, but it was in fact the De klerk Government, who in 1992, AFTER the sports boycott was lifted, abolished apartheid. I remember the bitter feeling of the 'whites' only referendum at that time - the sports movement stood neutered and watched. By challenging the sporting status quo, I am directly challenging the ANC’s version of events. They propagate a story of armed heroics & trenches, yet they cannot point out a single trench used in this vicious armed struggle. The sports story will cripple many careers within the ANC. I have been led to believe that NMMU (Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University) will be hosting a sports TRC this year sometime. If I hear anything, I will let The Roar know. The Gary Player incident is tricky. I don't have DSTV, so I actually watch very little sport, but Gary Player should have denied the Papwa incident years ago, but instead he made inane comments about the clubhouse losing its' licence. The story was carried in major newspapers all over the world, and is recorded as such in the books by Peter Joyce and others. This is the first I've heard that Papwa was in fact dry when he received his prize. I do not get excited when people talk about (NOT) 'looking back', because, as a social historian, all I really do is record oral histories of 'nobodies'. The top selling books on rugby in South Africa are on the history of the springboks. That's looking back surely? I buy the books, and they are indeed a valuable source of information - as is this blog, but as always, there's another side which is largely ignored. The educational morass is also another issue which was carefully orchestrated by the ANC. When you look at books like McGregor's 'springbok factory' and 'Derby Day', omitted from the narrative, is the story of the schools which DID NOT produce springboks, through no fault of their own. It was Kader Asmal who closed the teachers training colleges in this country, killing off the physical education teacher stream. Their teaching methodology focussed on sport as a community building activity, not a way out of poverty. The ANC has to shoulder the blame for these closures. It was the ANC who formed the NSC, usurping SACOS, thereby destroying the sporting base. Surely, if 'black' communities have been playing rugby in this country for more than 150 years, they must have produced a few gems. What mostly concerns me, is the lack of honest intent on the part of those who hold sway. From the financially resourced, to the politicians. In East London, there's a cosmetics company (Just On) who funds the Police Rugby club in the suburbs, yet their client base is 'black'. There are rugby clubs in Mdantsane, who struggle from year to year to stay afloat, yet sponsorship is scant. I would be the last to advocate for forcing a company to fund projects where they do not want to. It has to be genuine, and from the heart. Our current sports system is testament to an insincere transition. The educational model, which is actually teetering on the brink of total collapse, is part of this systemic denial of how our 'liberation' was achieved. There's a continual migration from areas where there's little or no development or resources, to areas where there's an oversupply of development and resources. This model is replicated across the country, and at some point it is bound to snap. Just this week our national education department announced the closure of 1000 schools in the Eastern Cape. No thought or considerations are given to transport issues, subsistence issues - as many children are cared for by elderly grandparents (AIDS, TB etc), and have to collect water, tend cattle etc. before walking 20 kms to school. Some even have to swim across rivers, as there are no bridges in many areas. The South African story is tragic - not the historical 'looking back' story, the present story. In 2010, when SA hosted the best FIFA world cup ever, four children died of starvation in the Verdwaal area of the Northwest Province. They were found dead, on a farm road. I am sorry - none of this is your fault, but it is actually all our fault. We need to prioritise the needs of this country, and take the country back. The liberation struggle was fought for people like these four kids who died, not only for the springboks to experience the freedom of playing in international competitions again. I agree that if we could reignite the community sports model, then South Africa will be a sports force to be reckoned with, from athletics through to chess & rugby, even soccer. But we operate on a system built upon the apartheid model of sporting activity - i.e. selective inclusion/exclusion, and not on the model which crippled the apartheid system. I mean, we still select the springbok team from the same schools we selected them from under apartheid. No new schools have been added to the pool.