A protester being carried away by police after trying to block a coach carrying the England rugby team to the airport en route to South Africa on 12 May 1972. Demonstrators formed a human barrier in front of the coach. Others disrupted a training session. The England team played seven matches in South Africa against segregated teams, including an international against the all-white Springboks in Johannesburg on 3 June 1972.
The umbrella group Stop All Racist Tours (SART) was launched at a press conference on 31 July 1973. It was set up to campaign against the British Lions rugby tour of South Africa planned for 1974. Its sponsors included the AAM, ANC, SANROC, National Union of Students (NUS) and the Catholic Institute of International Relations (CIIR). In the photograph are Ron Taylor, Dennis Brutus and Wilfred Brutus.
The British Lions 1974 rugby tour of South Africa went ahead despite widespread protests. This leaflet exposed South Africa’s new ‘multi-racial’ sports policy as window-dressing for apartheid. It was produced by Stop All Racist Tours (SART), an umbrella group set up to oppose the tour. The leaflet was distributed outside the England v Wales match at Twickenham on 16 March.
Anti-apartheid demonstrators asked rugby players not to take part in the British Lions tour of South Africa in 1974. The photograph shows a protest at the England v Wales match at Twickenham on 16 March. Other protesters displayed banners on the roof of the RFU’s headquarters. Welsh international John Taylor refused to take part in the tour.
Counter-demonstration by members of the far-right National Front at Twickenham, 16 March 1974. Anti-apartheid supporters were protesting against the British Lions tour of South Africa.
In 1977 Commonwealth Heads of Government made the Gleneagles Agreement on sporting contacts with South Africa. They agreed that Commonwealth governments should do all they could to discourage competition with sporting organisations, teams and individuals from South Africa. This leaflet reproduces the text of the agreement. In the 1980s the Conservative government did nothing to implement the Agreement.
The South African Barbarians rugby team’s tour of Britain in 1979 was part of an attempt by South Africa to get back into world rugby. This leaflet explained that although the team included African and Coloured players, rugby within South Africa was still racially segregated. The team played eight games against minor British sides. The Sports Council, TUC, British Council of Churches, and Labour and Liberal Parties all called for the cancellation of the tour.
The South African Barbarians rugby team’s tour of Britain in 1979 was part of an attempt by South Africa to get back into world rugby. This leaflet was distributed to Welsh rugby supporters outside the Barbarians games against Cardiff and Llanelli. Like all the material produced by Wales AAM, it was written in both Welsh and English.
