Muldoon had made sports contact with South Africa a campaign issue in 1975, and with another election scheduled for late 1981, he was ready to do so again. Public opinion polls showed that support for the proposed tour was high in the New Zealand province, which has six key marginal voters. Muldoon knew the tour could prove crucial on Election Day. Despite Gleneagles, Robert Muldoon made it clear that the government would not allow any political interference in sport in any form. The NZRFU took this as a green light and invited South Africans in September 1980 to go on tour the following year. Deputy Prime Minister Brian Talboys wrote to Ces Blazey, the president of the NZRFU, expressing concern that a tour was even being considered. Such contact would be seen as a tolerance of apartheid and would influence “the way New Zealand is judged on the international stage”. Muldoon said he could only “see problems,” but faced with the choice to cancel the tour, he spoke of “our children and loved ones” in South Africa and the fact that New Zealanders and South Africans had served side by side during World War II. He repeated his mantra that New Zealand is a free and democratic country and that “politics should stay out of sport”. Talboys pointed out that the government had done everything in its power except coercion to stop the tour. In the Gleneagles Agreement in 1977, Commonwealth Presidents and Prime Ministers agreed to cut off contact and competition between their athletes and South African sports organisations, teams or individuals as part of their support for the international campaign against apartheid.
The agreement was unanimously approved by the Commonwealth of Nations at a meeting in Gleneagles, Perthshire, Scotland. [1] [2] The All Blacks accepted an invitation to tour South Africa in 1976, when world attention focused on the Republic due to the unrest in Soweto. Hundreds of people were killed when the authorities ruthlessly repressed the protests. A tour All Blacks in such conditions was not only unbearable for many New Zealanders, but was also condemned internationally. Sub-Saharan African countries boycotted the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal in protest and put sport and politics back on the same stage. Peter Bromhead, “Aren`t you épingle this on the wrong bloke,” July 22, 1981. This cartoon shows Robert Muldoon handing out a death certificate to a man representing the Gleneagles Agreement, while on the ground, a man representing New Zealand`s reputation commits suicide with a sword called “the tour”. In 1977, Muldoon accepted the Gleneagles Agreement, a pact between Commonwealth leaders to prevent sporting contact with South Africa, which at the time was pursuing a policy of apartheid – a distinct development for its black and white citizens.
In 1981, however, he refused to prevent a highly controversial tour of New Zealand by the South African Springbok rugby team. This cartoon by Peter Bromhead regrets the resulting damage to New Zealand`s international reputation. Home Culture and Society Politics and Government Sport Protest and Reform 1981 Springbok Tour Page 5 They recognized that it was the urgent duty of their governments to vigorously combat the evil of apartheid by encouraging support and deterring contacts or competitions with sports organisations, teams or athletes from South Africa or any other country, in which the sport is organized on the basis of the race. Skin color or ethnicity. Alexander Turnbull Library Reference: A-322-068 Permission from alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Matauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained prior to any reuse of this image. New Zealand`s international reputation has been damaged. However, Prime Minister Robert Muldoon has argued that a free and democratic country cannot restrict the rights of its citizens to travel abroad. He reaffirmed his conviction that sport and politics should be separated. Can you tell us more about the information on this page? Maybe you have a related experience that you`d like to share? In particular, the Heads of Government welcomed the unanimous conviction at their meeting that there would probably be no significant sporting contacts between Commonwealth countries or their nationals and South Africa in the future, while that country was pursuing a policy of apartheid. On this basis, they looked forward to hosting the Commonwealth Games in Edmonton and further strengthening Commonwealth sport in general. This is the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, not the 1977 Commonwealth Heads of State Meeting, as described in the main article, page 5. Originally, they were the colonial prime ministers or the Dominion, they could not be the heads of state, because King George did not meet himself to be reviewed before publication.
Not all comments have been posted. Tell me more. The Gleneagles Agreement reaffirmed their commitment, enshrined in the Declaration of Principles of the Commonwealth of Singapore (1971), to combat racism. This commitment was reinforced by the Declaration on Racism and Racial Prejudice adopted by Commonwealth leaders in Lusaka in 1979. The Commonwealth has been a relevant body in imposing a sports ban on South Africa, as some of the most popular sports among white South Africans are dominated by Commonwealth member states, such as cricket and rugby union. [1] [2]. . .
They recognized that each government should determine how best to meet these commitments. However, they recognised that meeting their commitments was essential for the harmonious development of Commonwealth sport in the future. Alexander Turnbull Library Reference: A-322-068 Cartoon by Peter Bromhead. They were aware that sport is an important way to develop and promote understanding among people and especially among young people from all countries. But they were also aware that sports contacts with countries that practised apartheid in sport tended to promote the conviction that they were prepared to tolerate this abhorrent policy or that they were not fully committed to the principles enshrined in their Singapore Declaration. Commonwealth countries include people of different races, colours, languages and religions, and have long recognized racial prejudice and discrimination as dangerous diseases and absolved evils. .