The Ruck has launched a documentary series tracing the full arc of the Springbok-All Black rivalry, and the opening episode makes a compelling case that the defining tension of that rivalry was set in 1921 — not on the field, but off it. The Blackett telegram, in which a South African rugby correspondent described the Springboks' disgust at facing a Maori side, is presented as the public face of a private policy: team manager Harold Bennett had already told his Maori counterpart Ned Perata that no Maori would be accommodated on a tour to South Africa, a position historian Jamie Wall argues was 'clearly designed to inflame' and whose consequences — protests, Olympic boycotts, expulsion from international rugby, and the rebel tour — rippled through the next six decades.
The racist policy that shaped 60 years of Springbok-All Black history
The Ruck's new documentary series argues that a racist off-field policy established during the 1921 tour shaped the Springbok-All Black rivalry for the next 60 years — essential listening as the two sides prepare to meet in a four-test series this year.
The Ruck's new documentary series argues that a racist off-field policy established during the 1921 tour shaped the Springbok-All Black rivalry for the next 60 years — essential listening as the two sides prepare to meet in a four-test series this year.
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