From the Archives, 1971: Police win out in firey clashes at SCG

First published in The Sun-Herald on July 11, 1971

At least 140 people were arrested yesterday as demonstrators made a vain bid to halt the Springboks’ match against NSW.

And as the South Africans gave NSW a 25 to 3 drubbing on the field, some 700 policemen soundly defeated several thousand anti-apartheid demonstrators off the field.

Throughout the match brightly coloured smoke bombs, beer cans, crackers, fruit and balloons rained on to the field. Despite a continuing onslaught of protesters against lines of police, the match was interrupted only momentarily by one demonstrator, who succeeded in running on to the playing area.

Scores of other protesters succeeded in getting over the fence only to be crashed to the ground by police. Police waggons which were brought on to the field carried people who had been arrested away in relays.

Yesterday's demonstration was noisy and sometimes violent, but noticeably quieter and better controlled than the previous Saturday's match in Melbourne.

Police yesterday confiscated a large number of smoke bombs, flares, crackers and other weapons from people entering the ground. But for much of the match smoke drifted across the field and spectators, and fireworks and flares went off continuously.

Even though police ringed the inside of the Sydney Cricket Ground - in some areas two lines deep - violence centred mainly around the front of the Brewongle Stand, on the eastern side of the Hill, and around the Hill area.

The match between the Springboks and NSW was watched by 27,400 people.

2 police hurt

Some of the protesters were shaken and bleeding. Two police were also injured during violent scuffles. One was taken to St. Vincent's Hospital and treated for a head injury after he was hit by a flying bottle.

Among those arrested were a number of Rugby Union supporters who started fights with demonstrators and hurled beer cans into sections of the crowd.

Demonstrators some with blood streaming down their faces, were taken to a holding centre under one of the stands. But on the whole the demonstration ended in a decisive victory for the police.

The Police Rescue Squad were on the field with buckets and piles of sand to handle flares and smoke bombs. Most of them were extinguished within a minute. Police stood almost shoulder to shoulder around the fence before, during and after the match.

A few minutes after the match started at 2.30 p.m. demonstrators, some of them wearing crash helmets, cut a stretch of the three strand barbed wire which topped the perimeter fence.

The break was about 20 yards long, and protesters tried to tumble over. Police reinforcements rushed to the spot and violent scuffles broke out. More police and paddy waggons were rushed to the field and carried protesters who had been arrested out of the ground in relays.

As demonstrators tumbled through the gap in the wire police seized them and carried them away. Smoke flares and crackers fell among policemen and one orange flare was thrown back among the crowd, who were continuously jeering.

The protesters continuously gave Nazi salutes and shouted anti -Springbok slogans as the match went on, and refused to disperse until about 20 minutes after the match ended at 4 pm, in spite of police appeals over the public address system.

There were arrests even after the match had been over for a quarter of an hour.

During the match police walked backwards and forwards through the crowd of protesters, warning them to stay away from the fence. Many of the protesters who were arrested were passed bodily over the heads of the police until they could be put into the waiting waggons.

The demonstrators started throwing smoke bombs, crackers, oranges and other missiles on to the playing area as soon as the match started. There were wild scenes 10 minutes into the first half when a demonstrator cut the barbed wire topping the fence around the Cricket Ground. It was the signal for the first attempt by demonstrators to carry out their threat to stop the match.

'Go home’ cards

At least a dozen jumped the fence into the arms of scores of policemen. They were crashed to the ground by policemen before they could get on to the field of play. They were then carried bodily into two paddy waggons, and several were taken through the main gate.

Three or more paddy waggons were kept on the field during the match. A solid body of policemen blocked the area where the wire was cut.

Throughout the match demonstrators kept up a constant shrill barrage of whistles and jeers, which mixed with the cheers and applause of Rugby Union supporters. There was also a constant barrage of oranges from demonstrators on to the field. The barbed wire was cut for about 15 or 20 yards around the fence.

At one stage police struggled with a demonstrator less than 10 yards from the Springboks and New South Wales players. An orange smoke bomb hurled from the crowd landed in the middle of the players at one quarter of the field.

Most of the demonstrators were brandishing placards. They had slogans on them including "No racist Rugby tour" and "Go Home Springboks." Most of the demonstrators were gathered at the eastern side of the SGG - in the Brewongle Stand.

Hundreds of others mixed with the crowd on The Hill. The first fight broke out on The Hill seconds before the kick off at 2.30 pm. A demonstrator scuffled with a Rugby Union supporter, but police quickly moved in and stopped the scuffle.

Police had difficulty recognising many of the demonstrators yesterday because most of them moved into the crowd singly or in pairs, rather than in blocks.

Their main symbol of defiance was a black balloon, with "Don't play with apartheid" written on it. Just before the match started, scores of the balloons were released and some drifted across the field. However, the wind was blowing the wrong way and most of the balloons drifted up over the back of the public area.

The Springboks arrived at the Sydney Cricket Ground at 1.15 pm yesterday looking fit and confident after a restful night at their motel, the Squire Inn, at Bondi.

A handful of demonstrators spent Friday night camped outside the motel but there were no incidents. Demonstrators in sleeping bags and overcoats appeared more intent on keeping warm than on protesting.

A force of about a dozen police were at Sydney Airport yesterday morning to control possible demonstrations as two Springbok replacements arrived. The replacements - Alby Bates and Van dc Watt - flew in from Johannesburg but there were no demonstrators.

Ringed by police

At the Sydney Cricket Ground police and security men kept an overnight vigil on the around to prevent any possible damage to the playing area, stands, and fittings. Late on Friday, workmen welded together the goalpost at the Randwick end of the ground. It was damaged in an incident on Thursday.

The police force at the SCG started building up early yesterday morning. By noon most of the 700 police rostered for duty at the match were in and around the ground. Police vans and cars surrounded the area.

The playing area was ringed with police - two lines thick around the vulnerable areas such as The Hill - several hours before the game started.

Police set up a central radio control office in a vantage-point high in the M. A. Noble stand. Equipped with a detailed map of the area and radio transmitters police officers directed the squads around the field through walkle talkie radios.

The police force at the ground included members of the Police Rescue Squad clad in overalls, who stood near a side sate with buckets and other equipment to deal with smoke bombs.

In the stands there was no food and no liquor because of Union bans.

Last night Bishop E. Crowther and the Rev E. H. Arblaster, of Burwood, sought permission to interview demonstrators in cells at Darlinghurst police station.

Senior police officers at the station refused the request on the grounds that it was "inconvenient." Bishop Crowther said 15 demonstrators were being refused bail because someone had written slogans on their cell wall. Bail was a democratic right of everyone, not a concession to be given, or withheld, by the police, Bishop Crowther said.