It was 49 years ago that the Wallabies cautiously walked out on the Exhibition Ground in Brisbane with hundreds of police circling the playing field and barbed wire erected on the outer ring of the complex.
The arrival of the Springboks, who represented the apartheid-era South Africa, for a three-Test series had seen protests erupt nearly everywhere they went — so much so that Queensland Premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen had declared a state of emergency and given police powers to do whatever it took to ensure the second Test went ahead.
Playing in the No 10 jumper that day for Australia was Geoff Richardson, who would end up playing against the Boks five times that tour — three for Australia and once each for Queensland and Queensland Country. Angry protests had accompanied every game.
“The Test in Brisbane had to be shifted away from Ballymore because it had low fences and there was a fear of protesters climbing over so they took it to the Exhibition Ground,” Richardson told AWAAT.
“Richo”, who would eventually switch to rugby league and go on to become Australia’s 37th dual international (Ray Price was the 38th), has started making arrangements for the first reunion of the 1971 Wallabies — a team that played through turbulent times.
Given the athlete protests in the US this week, it is interesting to reflect on what happened in 1971 and Richardson is keen to attract some attention for next year’s reunion. He fears younger generations might never know of that extraordinary era.
“It was all compounded a bit more for me because I’d been drafted into the army as well, so I was playing in games where a lot of people didn’t think we should’ve been playing against South Africa in sport, plus I was also wearing the uniform of the Australia Army.
“The Vietnam War was on at the same time so some of the demonstrations were against the war and some were against apartheid. There were demonstrators who went to both rallies.”
Richardson, now 71, said the team was bussed everywhere with a police escort — hardly normal circumstances.
“It was a little bit odd. At the SCG they were throwing smoke bombs and blowing whistles and trying to get on to the ground and there was an article in the paper saying I’d be used to that because I was in the army.
“But when you’re out in the middle you’re just focused on what you are doing, getting the ball and making tackles.
“Sometimes they would come and demonstrate around the hotel we were staying in but they mainly did so outside the Springboks’ hotels and giving them a hard time.”
The Wallabies lost the first Test 19-11, the second Test 14-6 and the third Test back in Sydney 18-6 but each game was hard-fought.
Richardson said he never felt politicised by playing — it just didn’t occur to him that should ever be his role.
“People would front me at parties and ask me why I was playing the Springboks,” he said “For me as a young rugby player it was my ambition to play at the top level. I was a kid from Taree and all this radical stuff was for someone else, it wasn’t my concern.
“There were one or two Wallabies from the 1969 tour who didn’t make themselves available for 71. One of them, Bruce Taafe, was actually standing at the gate at the SCG with a banner when we were going into the ground on the bus.”
Richo has sadly lost 10 teammates from that series but he hopes their widows can attend the reunion. He has also been in contact with Morne du Plessi s, one of the Boks’ loose forwards, in the hope he can represent South Africa at the function.
Richo says he grew up playing league, pulling on the Taree Old Bar strip alongside Danny Buderus’s dad Gus, and it was in the 13-a-side code than many will remember him.
In 1975 he was part of the last Queensland team to defeat NSW before the State of Origin concept was introduced (everybody sing along, “where is Taree? That’s in Queensland ...”). But it is 1971 that should never be forgotten — an extraordinary series in an extraordinary time.
(NB: The state of emergency Test was the very first covered by Wayne Smith. Standing outside the ground and copping a whack for his troubles was Peter Beattie. You might’ve heard of them.)
Seibold leads the news
They say there’s no such thing as bad publicity. Anthony Seibold would probably disagree this week after his demise as Broncos coach.
Streem Media reports that between July and August, Seibold has been the focus of more than twice as many media stories than any other NRL figure.
His name was mentioned 487 times in the first 100 words of stories written by Australia’s major mainstream news sources, 246 more than Grappa’s favourite patron Wayne Bennett. Sonny Bill Williams was next on 192 mentions while Tevita Pangai Jr was mentioned 148 times — none of them, we are guessing, was positive.
Take a bow, Dow
We love a stat — sometimes the more meaningless the better. So where better than Facebook group Useless AFL Stats to satisfy that craving. This week’s winner is Richmond rookie Thomson Dow — the 100th player to win on debut by the same margin as his jumper number — 27. And on August 27.
Six and ouch
It could only happen to an Irishman. Kevin O’Brien was the hero for Leinster in their inter-provincial T20 win over North-West Warriors on Thursday.
O’Brien smashed eight sixes in his 37-ball innings of 82 at Leinster cruised to an easy 24-run win. One of those balls managed to smash the windscreen of a car parked next to the ground. You guessed it. It was O’Brien’s own vehicle.
📸: KEVIN O’BRIEN SMASHES SIX...
— Cricket Ireland (@Irelandcricket) August 27, 2020
...and his own car window. Seriously.#IP2020 | @TestTriangle ☘ï¸ðŸ pic.twitter.com/dKbfDRHrjY
BC’s tip of the week
Brendan Cormick needs a winner after a couple of barren weeks. He says Dalasun (R7 No 9 at Morphettville on Saturday) “is better than bank interest at $1.45 in the race named in honour of his trainer Leon MacDonald”.
“But for those looking for a meatier dividend, Kumasi (R7 No 3 at Rosehill) is one to look at.”
mcloughlins@theaustralian.com.au
Twitter: @simmomac
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