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The 1969 Springbok rugby tour of Britain and Ireland was met with demonstrations at every game. Nick Chudley, then a member of Manchester University Institute of Science and Technology rugby club, remembers how he joined the protests at the Springboks match against North West Counties in Manchester on 26 November 1969 and how an undercover police provocateur encouraged demonstrators to run onto the pitch. 

Police carry a demonstrator off the pitch at the Springboks v Scotland rugby match at Murrayfield on 6 December 1969. There were anti-apartheid protests at all 24 games in the 1969/70 Springbok tour of Britain and Ireland.

Thousands of anti-apartheid supporters set out from Cardiff Civic Centre to march to Cardiff Arms Park in protest at the Springboks v Cardiff rugby match, 13 December 1969. There were anti-apartheid protests at all 24 games in the 1969/70 Springbok tour of Britain and Ireland.

Anti-apartheid supporters marched from Cardiff’s docks area of Bute Town to protest at the Springboks v Cardiff rugby match, 13 December 1969. On the way to the ground they joined up with marchers from Cardiff City Centre. There were anti-apartheid protests at all 24 games in the 1969/70 Springbok tour of Britain and Ireland.

Anti-apartheid supporters on the march to Cardiff Arms Park to protest at the Springboks v Cardiff rugby match, 13 December 1969. At the junction of Castle Street and Westgate Street they were barred by police to stop them reaching the rugby ground. There were anti-apartheid protests at all 24 games in the 1969/70 Springbok tour of Britain and Ireland.

Leaflet asking London students to support a fundraising appeal for the ANC and ZAPU in 1969. Fundraising for the liberation movements was one of the main student activities on Southern Africa in the late 1960s and 1970s. The appeal was organised by the Radical Student Alliance, a coalition of left groups which backed the resolution calling for a boycott of South Africa passed at the 1970 NUS conference.

Leaflet advertising a meeting near the England rugby ground at Twickenham a few days before England’s game against South Africa on 20 December. The rugby Springboks played 24 games during their tour of Britain and Ireland in 1979/80. There were big demonstrations at every match. The protests combined direct action to disrupt the games, co-ordinated by Stop the Seventy Tour (STST), and mass marches organised by the AAM.

An anti-apartheid protestor chained himself to the steering wheel of the bus bringing the Springbok rugby team to Twickenham for their international against England on 20 December 1969. He was removed from the bus by the driver and a policeman, the chain still attached to his wrist.