This collection of items, namely a small souvenir card, autographed and distributed by members of the South African touring team – then known as the Springboks - on their tour of Australia in 1970; various pages from program of the match which took place in Melbourne - featuring a hand-drawn cover; as well extracts from reports in the Sun News-Pictorial, are associated with one of the most controversial events in Victorian netball history.
During the 1970s, campaigns and boycotts were directed against the South African government due to their policy of apartheid, which included their endorsement of racially-selected national sporting teams. The Victorian netball team was caught up in this political storm when the in-form Springboks were scheduled to play against them at Festival Hall on Wednesday, 3 June 1970.
The Springboks had already visited Perth, Adelaide, and Hobart before they landed in Melbourne. In the days before their match against the Victorians, newspapers reported that university students from Melbourne, Monash and Latrobe Universities were planning to protest at the game. While there was no reporting at the time of protests at any of the Springbok’s earlier matches, later accounts of the tour suggested that Victoria Police advised the Victorian Netball Association to shift the game to the more secure stadium at Royal Park.
According to press reports in the Sun News-Pictorial, on the night of 3 June a small group of about 25 protestors gathered at the front door of the Royal Park stadium before the match. They “carried placards condemning racism in sport” and “handed out pamphlets titled: ‘The South African Tyranny’”. The report suggested that inside the stadium was a “capacity crowd” of 1000 spectators.
However, the situation escalated when the teams lined up before the game and the South African team sang their national anthem. The Sun News-Pictorial reported this was the “signal for demonstrators” who began shouting “smash apartheid, smash apartheid, smash apartheid”.
The protesters then tried to force their way into the building and the front glass doors were smashed with an iron bar. A South African flag was set alight, fire-crackers were thrown, and windows and roofing panels at the stadium were shattered. A South African umpire cut her hand on the broken glass, and ball-girls were kept busy wiping up the mess from a bottle of sump oil that had been tossed onto the main court.
Police reinforcements were rushed to the scene and several arrests were made, although no demonstrators managed to actually enter the stadium. Amid the chaos, the South Africans won the game and were later escorted back to their hotel by police.
The protests at the Melbourne match made the front pages of newspapers around the country, including The Australian, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Courier Mail. Headlines referred to the protests as a “violent race riot” and described “wild scenes”. It is usually sports like rugby and cricket that come to mind in discussions about apartheid and sport, but as these items from the Edith Hull Collection demonstrate, netball is also a part of this story.
Curatorial Notes:
Two slightly different South African autograph cards are in Netball Victoria’s Edith Hull Collection, along with a program for the game. Other states played against the South Africans, but produced more professionally typeset programs, notably for the game played in Adelaide on 20 May 1970. It is also known that the South Africans played a practice match against a team from East Keilor prior to the game against Victoria, although precise details are not available. Anyone with memorabilia or further information to share related to the above story should contact Netball Victoria at communications@netballvic.com.au.
