Sharpeville Massacre united the world against apartheid, but SA sporting isolation took too long – ask the All Blacks

Mike Greenaway

The international media coverage of the Sharpeville Massacre of 1960 was the first time South Africa’s reality was brought to a wider audience, but although England Prime Minister Harold Macmillan called for “winds of change in South Africa”, it was an eternity before the breeze became a tornado. Governments around the world questioned their relationship with South Africa, and sport was a major area to come under the microscope. To continue to engage with teams like the “whites-only” Springboks was to condone the apartheid government. But there was a cumbersome lag between protests and the actual discontinuation of sporting contact. This was best illustrated by the New Zealand All Blacks’ ambiguous relationship with the Springboks. For many older New Zealanders, it is a matter of embarrassment that the All Blacks…

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Sunday Independent (Digital) - 1 Issue, 2025-03-23

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