No tour — war hero

Press, 28 April 1981, Page 6

No tour — war hero

New Zealand’s double Victoria Cross winner. Mr Charles Upham, told re-

turned servicemen at an Anzac service that the Springbok rugby tour should be stopped because it would split the country “from end to end."

Mr Upham. New Zealand’s best-known soldier of World War 11, said afterwards that he was opposed to the South African Government’s apartheid policy because it was “contrary to our ideas of humanity.” “South Africa has got to wake up to the rest of the world. They’re not friends of the British Empire.” Those in favour of the tour should try being “unselfish” and consider the trouble and disruption the tour would cause in New Zealand, Mr Upham said.

He said that the (Second World) war was not fought just to ensure that New Zealanders could play sport, with whom they wished. Relying on South Africa as the last bastion against the advance of communism would be as “useful as leaning on a broken leg.” He did not believe the Springbok team would be multi-racial, and stopping the tour would make a difference to the apartheid policy.

“They will find that they’re ostracised from the rest of the world,” he said. “Any difference it would make would certainly be a lot more than if the tour went ahead.”