The day rugby was cancelled

Not many of us would share Sir John Key’s attitude about the torrid Springbok tour of New Zealand in 1981. Before becoming National Party leader, he was asked about his stance back at the time when the South African rugby tour was met by violent riots in streets around the country.

“I can’t even remember,” he replied. "I don’t even know.” Given he was aged about 20 when it all occurred, that’s still surprising.

During this week’s 40th anniversary of one of the most divisive times in modern New Zealand, many of us may be reflecting on how we felt, spoke and acted back then.

Today is July 25, 40 years after the Waikato game was called off after hundreds of protesters smashed their way through fences and invaded Rugby Park.

This week, journalist Neil Reid

It still remains a subject best avoided.

revisited several key figures in the turmoil — protest organiser John Minto, Red Squad leader Ross Meurant, All Black captain and tour objector Graham Mourie, and the members of the “Barbed Wire Boks”.

Each has clearly been deeply affected by the events of ’81.

Across New Zealand, it still remains a subject best avoided in many social situations. Some families have never spoken of it or, in some truly sad instances, with each other since “the tour”.

Lines were drawn at that juncture when near-religious pride in our national sport clashed headlong with our egalitarian belief in every person deserving a fair go.

Apartheid is no more, but grudges are not so easily dismantled.

It may well be that, in not wanting to express a view in favour of protesters or rugby fans, Sir John Key was trying to avoid alienating half of the potential voters at the nascence of his political career.

That speaks more about us, and the unresolved conflict many still harbour, than the centrist politician who became our 38th prime minister.

On July 25, 1981, we gave ourselves a bloody nose, and the memory still aches.