The exclusion of Māori from the 1928 All Blacks tour of South Africa in wider imperial context

Abstract

The historiography of debates over sporting contact with South Africa and the emergence of a sports boycott strategy against that country is focused primarily on the post-World War Two period, with only fragmentary discussion of earlier tensions. But digitisation of a wide array of sources over the last decade provides ready access to diverse public debates during the 1920s and especially the decision to exclude Maori players from the 1928 All Blacks tour to South Africa. This paper explores contrasting reactions to that decision in the context of prevailing racial anthropology and New Zealand understandings of politics and race informed by such events as the 1924 British Empire parliamentary delegation tour to South Africa. The 1920s reveal a complex balancing act between the rights of Maori to representation on the sports field and the need to accommodate South African policy and practice within the fabric of the British imperial family.