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Halt All Racist Tours (HART) was a protest group set up in New Zealand in 1969 to protest against
rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...
tours to and from
South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...
. Founding member Trevor Richards served as president for its first 10 years, with fellow founding member
John Minto John Minto (born ) is a New Zealand political activist known for his involvement in various left-wing groups and causes, most notably Halt All Racist Tours. A 2005 documentary on New Zealand's Top 100 History Makers listed him as number 89. T ...
then serving as president until South Africa dismantled apartheid in the early 1990s.


Chronology

Until 1970, South Africa refused to allow mixed-race sports teams to tour South Africa, and they were not happy about having to play against "natives" in New Zealand. A protest movement against the 1960 New Zealand rugby union tour of South Africa used the slogan "No Maoris, No Tour", but it failed to stop the tour. In 1967, the
New Zealand Rugby Union New Zealand Rugby (NZR) is the governing body of rugby union in New Zealand. It was founded in 1892 as the New Zealand Rugby Football Union (NZRFU), 12 years after the first provincial unions in New Zealand. In 1949 it became an affiliate to t ...
decided to cancel the proposed 1967 tour over the issue. Trevor Richards, Tom Newnham,
John Minto John Minto (born ) is a New Zealand political activist known for his involvement in various left-wing groups and causes, most notably Halt All Racist Tours. A 2005 documentary on New Zealand's Top 100 History Makers listed him as number 89. T ...
, Dave Wickham and others formed HART in 1969 to protest against the proposed 1970 New Zealand tour of South Africa. The tour went ahead after the South Africans agreed to accept a mixed-race team. In 1973, HART promised a campaign of civil disruption if the Springboks, the South Africa national team, toured New Zealand. The Labour Prime Minister,
Norman Kirk Norman Eric Kirk (6 January 1923 – 31 August 1974) was a New Zealand politician who served as the 29th prime minister of New Zealand from 1972 until his sudden death in 1974. Born into poverty in Southern Canterbury, Kirk left school at ...
, prohibited the tour. The All Blacks, the New Zealand national team, were next due to tour South Africa in 1976. Newly elected
National National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...
Prime Minister
Rob Muldoon Sir Robert David Muldoon (; 25 September 19215 August 1992) was a New Zealand politician who served as the 31st Prime Minister of New Zealand, from 1975 to 1984, while leader of the National Party. Serving as a corporal and sergeant in th ...
refused to cancel the tour, which went ahead. Subsequently Commonwealth leaders adopted the
Gleneagles Agreement In the Gleneagles Agreement, in 1977, Commonwealth presidents and prime ministers agreed, as part of their support for the international campaign against apartheid, to discourage contact and competition between their sportsmen and sporting organis ...
whereby they agreed to discourage sporting contact with South Africa. Twenty-one African nations boycotted the
1976 Summer Olympics Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phil ...
in Montreal in protest against the All Black tour. HART merged with the National Anti-Apartheid Council in 1980 to become HART: NZAAM (Halt All Racist Tours: New Zealand Anti-Apartheid Movement). After ten years as National Chairperson, Richards stepped down and fellow HART founder Minto became president. The high point of protest was around the 1981 Springbok tour of New Zealand in which thousands of New Zealanders protested to stretch police resources. HART was not the leading body in these protests, as broader organisations were set up in each major centre to coordinate protests, but HART members played a leading role in these organisations. In 1985, a planned All Black tour of South Africa was stopped by the
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after two lawyers sued the NZRFU, claiming such a tour would breach the NZRFU's constitution. An unofficial tour did take place in 1986 by a team including the majority of the All Blacks players selected for the previous year's cancelled tour. These were known as the
New Zealand Cavaliers The Cavaliers was an unofficial New Zealand rugby union team which toured South Africa in 1986. Because of the Apartheid policies of the South African government, the official New Zealand Rugby Union tour scheduled for 1985 was cancelled, and th ...
, but were often advertised inside South Africa as the All Blacks or alternatively depicted with the
Silver Fern ''Alsophila dealbata'', synonym ''Cyathea dealbata'', commonly known as the silver fern or silver tree-fern, or as ponga or punga (from Māori or ),The Māori word , pronounced , has been borrowed into New Zealand English as a generic term f ...
. HART organised nationwide protests, but they were much smaller than the 1981 protests. HART's reason for existence ended when South Africa rescinded the
Population Registration Act, 1950 The Population Registration Act of 1950 required that each inhabitant of South Africa be classified and registered in accordance with their racial characteristics as part of the system of apartheid. Social rights, political rights, educational ...
in 1991, leading to the further dismantling of apartheid by 1993.


See also

*
CARE (New Zealand) The Citizens Association for Racial Equality (CARE) was a New Zealand organisation that fought against racism towards minority groups in New Zealand. During the 1960s, CARE attacked policies such as the common de facto policy of banks not to emplo ...
* New Zealand cricket team in Zimbabwe in 2005 * Rugby union and apartheid


Notes


References


Te Ao Hou, THE MAORI MAGAZINE, No 67, July 1969
In Support of the New Zealand Maori Councils Decision in Favour of the 1970 All Black Tour.

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20100718111236/http://www.sarugby.com/news/News/article/sid=4052.html History of the Flower Bomb Tour


Further reading

*Malcolm Templeton, ''Human Rights and Sporting Contacts: New Zealand Attitudes To Race Relations In South Africa, 1921-94'',
Auckland University Press Auckland University Press is a New Zealand publisher that produces creative and scholarly work for a general audience. Founded in 1966 and formally recognised as Auckland University Press in 1972, it is an independent publisher based within The ...
, 1998, * Trevor Richards, ''Dancing on Our Bones: New Zealand, South Africa, Rugby and Racism'' (Bridget Williams Books, 1999) {{Authority control History of rugby union Rugby union tours of New Zealand Race relations in New Zealand International opposition to apartheid in South Africa Politics and sports 1981 in New Zealand Rugby union controversies Sport and apartheid in South Africa Political groupings in New Zealand Rugby union and apartheid