The Springbok Tour of New Zealand in 1981 caused a significant divide in New Zealand society at the time. Protests began, as some fiercely believed that the All Blacks should not verse a team that came from a country of severe apartheid. Opposing view to this was that politics and sport should not be mixed. What followed was a series of protests that shook the whole country and left it move divided than it had ever been before. It has been said that this tour was when New Zealand truly lost it's innocence.