Durban — “Paint them black and send them back” was one of the slogans anti-apartheid demonstrators sang outside the Springbok hotel the last time they were in Adelaide for a rugby match.
It was 1971 and South African sport was discovering in no uncertain fashion that the rest of the world was intolerant of institutionalised racism, and the all-white Springbok rugby team reflected that.
Many folks know of the infamous 1981 Springbok tour of New Zealand because of the virtual civil war that country suffered but the same drama — on a slightly lesser scale — had transpired a decade before “across the ditch,” as they say Down Under.
Hannes Marais’ Springbok Class of 1971 were fugitives from the minute they first landed in Australia and in the Perth arrivals hall had to wear greatcoats over their Springbok blazers and remove their ties to avoid attention.
Siya Kolisi’s merry men could not be having a more different experience in Adelaide than the hounded Boks of 51 years ago.
Current reports from the beautiful South Australian coastal city tell of happy throngs of ex-pat South Africans gathering around the Springboks’ hotel but in 1971 it was anti-tour demonstrators that camped outside their hotel all night and ensured the Boks got little sleep.
This would be the pattern for a six-week, 16-match tour that amazingly — given the circumstances — would earn Marais’ men the proud title of “The Unbeatables”. They are the only Springbok team in history to return from a full tour — Test matches plus midweek games — unbeaten.
A number of great Springbok teams have won Grand Slams in Europe but dropped at least one game against provincial opposition and even the best Bok team of them all, the 1937 Springboks, lost a game — shortly after docking from their long voyage to Sydney, they played New South Wales while still wobbly with “sea legs”, but recovered to defeat the Wallabies and then in New Zealand won their series against the All Blacks.
In Adelaide, the Boks watched from their rooms at the Mayfair Hotel (it is still there today) as over 500 demonstrators beat drums, blew whistles, threw fireworks, and chanted: “Paint them black and send them back.”
Possibly more painful for the burly Boks was a lack of sufficient food at the hotel. Australia’s trade unions forbade food and beverages to be supplied to hotels hosting the Boks and the Mayfair had not hosted a rugby team before and had not stocked up enough.
The Boks were on rations and were horrified to be limited to a breakfast of two eggs and one sausage!
The match against South Australia was played at the Norwood Oval, an Aussie Rules ground, with 6000 fans in attendance including a small army of demonstrators, and police made 89 arrests for “disorderly behaviour” which included regular pitch invasions.
The Boks were at least made welcome by the local police band playing Sarie Marais in their honour, followed by Waltzing Matilda for the locals, and the game began.
And it was mostly one-way traffic, with the Boks winning 49-0 and scoring six tries in the process.
The Boks had to sneak out of town on four small aircraft to their next stop, Melbourne, and the chief organiser of the anti-tour movement, Bishop Edward Crowther, proclaimed: “They are being forced to use the back door just as they treat their blacks back home. They know they are not welcome to land at Australian airports as ordinary tourists.”
IOL Sport