Those who were in favour of the tour didn't necessarily support the South African political regime of Apartheid, but held the view that by playing sport with South Africa we aren't encouraging apartheid and that it wasn't a relevant issue in terms of Rugby. The viewpoint of those people at the time is somewhat understandable, they didn't see a beneficial outcome by not having sporting contact with South Africa. Many New Zealander's just stood by their government and wanted to watch the All Blacks play against South Africa.
The pro-tour movement wasn't an organised movement like the anti - tour movement, they just reacted to the actions taken by the anti - tour protesters. An example of this would be in Gisbourne, when the protesters managed to make their way into the ground by tearing down fences, the spectators at the game reacted by fighting back against the protesters, as well as throwing cans and bottles at the protesters. It was mainly the pro-tour supporters who caused the violence which then escalated.
There were a number of groups that were formed in support of the Springbok tour. For example the Society for the protection of individual rights (SPIR) and war against recreational disruption (WARD). these we groups which did support the Springbok tour.
The pro-tour movement wasn't an organised movement like the anti - tour movement, they just reacted to the actions taken by the anti - tour protesters. An example of this would be in Gisbourne, when the protesters managed to make their way into the ground by tearing down fences, the spectators at the game reacted by fighting back against the protesters, as well as throwing cans and bottles at the protesters. It was mainly the pro-tour supporters who caused the violence which then escalated.
There were a number of groups that were formed in support of the Springbok tour. For example the Society for the protection of individual rights (SPIR) and war against recreational disruption (WARD). these we groups which did support the Springbok tour.
Key Ideas:
he pro tour movement was very different than the anti-tour movement. The pro-tour movement wasn't an organised group of individuals looking to publicize their views, they just retalliated to the anti-tour protesters disrupting the tour often violently. How ready New Zealanders were to attack each other over ultimately a Rugby match shows the rift there was within New Zealand society during the course of the 1981 Springbok tour.