This item, a souvenir autograph card distributed by members of the South African touring team – then known as the Springboks - on their tour of Australia in 1970, is 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.
Protestors had already hurled rotten fruit and abuse at the South African netballers when they took part in matches in other states, so Victoria Police advised the Victorian Netball Association to shift the game to the more secure stadium at Royal Park. According to reports, more than 3,000 protestors met at Melbourne University on the day of the match, and marched to Royal Park, where a rowdy demonstration was held prior to the game.
However, once the match commenced, the protest became more violent. Activists tried to force their way into the building and the front glass doors were smashed with an iron bar. An Australian flag was set alight, Molotov cocktails (petrol bombs) and fire-crackers were thrown, and windows and roofing panels at the stadium were shattered. A South African umpire also had an artery in her arm severed by broken glass, and ball-girls were kept busy wiping up the mess from a bottle of sump oil that had been tossed into 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.
