N.Z. ‘waking to ’Bok tour folly’

Press, 3 August 1981, Page 1

N.Z. ‘waking to ’Bok tour folly’

NZPA London More and more New Zealanders were slowly but steadily waking up to the fact that they had been misled, misinformed, and badly used by the South African establishment, the former All Blacky Mr Chris Laidlaw, said in the “Observer” yesterday.

Mr Laidlaw, now assistant to the Commonwealth Secre-tary-General, Sir Shridath Ramphal, was giving what was described as his personal view of the Springbok tour.

“As a New Zealander and a rugby player, I argued a decade ago in favour of selective sporting contacts, bridge-building and all that,” he said.

“I helped defend the Springboks and, in 1970, with some lingering unease, toured South Africa with the first multi-racial All Black team.

“It seemed, excitingly, that we were participating in the dismantling of apartheid, the next promise being a team

from South Africa selected on genuine merit basis to come to New Zealand in 1973.

“Alas, the assurances so solemnly delivered in 1970 were never kept. Details of a deliberate strategy, orchestrated by the secret Afrikaner society, the Broederbond, to exploit the New Zealand connection came to light instead.” Rugby was the national expression of the Afrikaner and the chosen tool of the Broederbond, Mr Laidlaw said.

“Why, otherwise, should every ” Springbok manager and captain be a Broederbond member, by definition strictly opposed to any weakening of the racial supremacy of the Afrikaner?” he asked.

The present Springbok tour put South Africa on the threshold of international acceptability — “a status it has done nothing to earn,”. he said.

“Worse still, it has plunged New Zealand and the rest of

the Commonwealth into an adversary conflict,” he said. "New Zealand is waking up to its folly, but rather too late.”

The tour had opened ugly weals in New’ Zealand society that would take a long time to heal.

“It has set a vast number of responsible, mature citizens from all corners of society — not just Left-wing student ‘agitators’ — against the Rugby Union, its supporters, and the Government, and led to the unhealthiest polarisation among friends and even families," Mr Laidlaw said.

“The truth is that, slowly but steadily, more and more New Zealanders are waking up to the fact that they have been misled, misinformed, and badly used by the South African establishment."