07| Boycott! | Rugby, Rebels and Reconciliation

In this extra episode Sisonke Msimang tells stories of First Nations Australians, Rugby and the fight to end Apartheid. When Aboriginal Rugby player Lloyd McDermott refused to declare himself an honorary white for the Wallabies tour of South Africa in 1963 he began a tradition of First Nations Australians using the sport to get under the skin of the country’s regime. But when Glen Ella from the famous Aboriginal Rugby Union playing family joined a Rebel Rugby 7s tour of South Africa in 1985 he broke the sports boycott and almost tore his family apart. Then Rugby brought the nation of South Africa together in a magic moment of reconciliation when Nelson Mandela wore the Springboks guernsey at the World Cup.

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  ABC Listen. Podcasts, radio, news, music and more.

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  Just a warning. This episode of ABC Rewind includes the names and voices of Aboriginal people who have died.

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  Sisong Kemsimang here. We hope you've enjoyed Boycott. There's one story we couldn't squeeze into the series, but we really wanted to tell it. So here's a bonus episode. It's about three Aboriginal rugby union players and their relationship to apartheid, and how the famous rugby-playing Ella family was almost torn apart by the sports boycott against South Africa. But the story begins with Lloyd McDermott.

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  My anglicised name is Lloyd Clive McDermott. I also have taken on a tribal name called Mulland-Jawaka, which is a combination of the Mulland-Jali clan and the Waka Waka people.

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  We told Mulland-Jawaka Lloyd McDermott's story in episode two of Boycott, but there's so much more to tell. Philippa McDermott is Lloyd's daughter.

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  Our family were what you would now refer to as station blacks. And so my grandmother's traditional Waka Waka country is now what they call Idesvold and Hawkeswood stations. And my great-grandfather was the head stockman there. My father really lived the first years of his life on the station and then out bush with my grandparents and wider kind of clan. He basically lived in a tent till he was about 10 or 11. And he didn't go to school. It was up to the school principal and the white parents of the local schools whether Aboriginal kids could go to school then.

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  You had to, you know, have a doctor's certificate to say you were free of diseases and what have you, so it was quite hard. If you wanted your kids to be properly educated, you would have to move to Brisbane or, you know, other larger places.

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  So in the early 1950s, Lloyd's parents moved to Anala in Brisbane, where a church minister encourages Lloyd's mother to send him to the kind of school where they play rugby union.

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  They saved pretty much every single penny they had, and then some from family, to send him to a private school. And he relished, you know, that and really excelled at both sport and academia. So it paid off.

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  Lloyd's very good at rugby, and he's very determined to succeed at it.

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  I took a lot of determination, a lot of willpower. I suffered racism, even at school, playing against the other schools. And when I was playing for my club, Queensland University, I suffered a lot of racism. I was taunted. But it only probably made me play harder and to excel to a better level. And I had the backing of my parents and my tribe and other friends and so I... It was hard, but it was disciplined. There was no alcohol, no cigarettes, and it had to be super fit, but it was worthwhile.

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  All that hard work pays off. In 1962, Lloyd's selected for the Wallabies to play against the legendary New Zealand All Blacks.

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  It was just out of this world. It took me, you know, a diosato to accept the fact, but it was exhilarating. It was exhilarating.

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  Then, in 1963, the Wallabies are planning a tour of South Africa, and Lloyd's up for selection. But there's a slight problem. Everyone knows South Africa won't allow black players on its team. But get this, it won't even allow black players on the field, even if they're playing for the other side.

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  When I realised I was in a no-win position, the fact that I would have had to be acknowledged as some sort of honorary white for that period of the tour, the decision wasn't a hard one. I thought myself that we shouldn't have been playing. We should have had sporting sanctions at that stage. But that wasn't to be, and I took the view that I could not go there and play in a segregated society.

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  So essentially, Lloyd makes a huge decision. After playing just two Tests for the Wallabies, he resigns.

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  It was really a personal decision for Dad about not compromising his identity as an Aboriginal person. And for us and everything that we've been through, and our families and families before that, he would never compromise his values, his identity. It's the essence of being for us. It's our birthright. You cannot compromise your identity for a game of football.

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  His international rugby union career is over, just as quickly as it began.

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  It did end his rugby career. It had not only a political impact, but yes, it had a financial impact on Dad. But he did not let that hold him back.

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  Molangawaka Lloyd McDermott knows what the segregation of the apartheid laws in South Africa feels like, because his family are living under a very similar law in Queensland. In fact, the men who wrote the racist apartheid laws in 1948 got some of their ideas from Queensland.

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  The irony, I think, for Dad was also, he was very well aware that South Africa was influenced by the Queensland Protection and Restricted Sale of Opium Act as a basis for South African apartheid. And that act was still in place in Queensland at the time. Queensland was still a segregated state. And up until, well, technically till 65, but a lot longer than that.

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  And 40 years later, how does Lloyd feel about his decision not to play rugby in South Africa?

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  I don't regret that decision at all. And I can live with it comfortably. As history's proven, we were right. Sporting sanctions and economic sanctions brought South Africa back to the rest of the pack. And it was part and parcel of the abandonment of apartheid.

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  Mullen Jawaka Lloyd McDermott will go on to become Australia's first Aboriginal barrister. So yes, history has absolutely proven him right. And almost 10 years after he took his stand, Australia does adopt sporting sanctions against South Africa. Gulf Whitlam bans any national Australian teams from playing South Africa until such time that it drops its policy of segregation. Gary Ella remembers hearing about the protests at the time, but he's just a kid learning how to play footy in La Perouse.

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  We grew up at La Perouse. There was seven siblings in the family, living in a three-bedroom house that had only one power point, had no stove. We had to chop wood out the back and all meals were cooked over a fire. We had no taps inside. It was funny. People thought we were poor, but we weren't really because we were always so happy with each other. You know, there was always competition for different things. The family generally got on well together.

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  Gary's life isn't without its troubles, though.

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  We used to get a lot of welfare offices coming through, but every time a white person knocked on our front door, we used to bolt out the back door. The kids would bolt and we'd all go hiding to get away as far away as we could. And we all generally had competitions about who could find the best hiding spot and who can stay hidden for the longest. And didn't think too much about that growing up as kids, but a bit later on, when we started going to school, and particularly when we started to go to high school and started learning about the stolen generations, we knew that our parents was actually teaching us not to trust any white people that comes to the front door.

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  Everyone at La Perouse plays rugby league. But at the local Matreville High, there's a teacher who trains the Ella brothers in rugby union. Gary and his older twin brothers, Mark and Glenn, are like quicksilver on the field. And in 1977, while they're still at school, all three of them are selected to play rugby overseas. Here's Glenn Ella.

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  I'd come from a rugby league background, and all of a sudden we got picked in the Australian Schoolboys. We didn't expect anything like that. We always thought that the big pick in those type of teams, you have to come from private schools. And we're travelling the world. So it was a very great experience for the three Black Wallas from La Perouse.

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  Four years later, all three Ella brothers are chosen to play for the Wallabies on a tour of the UK. The media goes crazy.

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  Mark and Glenn, 22-year-old twins, and Gary Ella, 21, have done for rugby union what the West Indians did for cricket. In their selection for the present Wallaby Tour of Britain, the three brothers have rewritten the record book, bringing credit to their Randwick club and great pride to Aborigines everywhere.

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  It's 1981, and that same year, rugby's in the headlines for very different reasons. It's a full decade since the Springboks last toured Australia, but they're still welcome in New Zealand. Well, sort of. When they touch down in Wellington, Prime Minister Robert Muldoon lays out the red carpet for the Springboks. But also accompanying them on the tour? Thousands of protesters.

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  Between 2,000 and 3,000 people marched on the parliament buildings here in Wellington to protest against the continuation of the Springboks tour. It had all started off peacefully enough, but the mood totally changed when the demonstrators decided to move towards the House of the South African Consul General.

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  As the Springboks tour moves north, the protests escalate. Demonstrators are forced to wear motorcycle helmets as protection from police battens. This becomes an enduring image of the protests.

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  I've got to say that the Springbok Tour in New Zealand was a far more dramatic event than the Australian one in 1971, primarily because in New Zealand rugby is pretty much a religion.

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  Gary Foley is a major player in Aboriginal protests, and with a small group of other Aboriginal activists, he's come to New Zealand to join the protests and support his Maori sisters and brothers.

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  It split the country, I mean, literally. I mean, New Zealand came close to the edge of a civil war over a game of rugby, you know, and it was really dramatic.

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  One of the most dramatic moments is at the game in Hamilton.

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  We marched around the field, the edge of the field, and there's 25,000 rugby maniacs inside the ground, sort of screaming at us and calling us communists and all sorts of other things. And as we marched around, nobody knew what was going to happen, including us.

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  But Maori women, led by activist Rebecca Evans, are leading the march, and they do have a plan.

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  Suddenly, at one point, Rebecca Evans raised her megaphone and she said, "Operation Everest, go." And the front line of women just suddenly turned and ran towards the wire fence. There they go. They're going for the fence now. They're up against the fence. They're going to pull this fence down. They've got bolt cutters. And now they're under the field. They're under the field, and the police cannot stop them. And then suddenly, there we were, in the middle of a field with 25,000 rugby fanatics busting to see their game.

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  Riot police came on and tried to force the crowd off, but to no avail. New Zealand's police commissioner then came onto the field to negotiate with the protesters and was told by anti-tour leaders that they would not leave until the match was called off.

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  The instant announcement was made over the megaphone that the game was cancelled. The crowd had been pretty, you know, in good humour. Up to that point, hoping to see some demonstrators get smashed. Suddenly, the mood changed and they just wanted to kill demonstrators.

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  Angry rugby supporters immediately began assaulting anyone within sight. One injured girl was repeatedly kicked while packs of men took on anyone who looked like a demonstrator. There were not enough police to provide anyone with protection.

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  And the police actually said to us, "Look, there's not enough for us to be able to protect you. We suggest you get out of town fast."

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  But first, Gary and the other First Nations protesters have to get through the angry rugby fans.

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  We managed to escape because the team that the Springboks had played that day, their colours were the same colours as the Aboriginal flag. And there were scarves being sold in town before the game. And so we thought, "Wow, great, scarves in our colours." So we all bought a scarf and we stuck it under our jacket so that our fellow demonstrators wouldn't see it. And then when the announcement was made, the game was off and the crowd went, turned ugly, we whipped out our scarves and managed to walk through the crowd with them, thinking we were one of them.

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  Camouflage.

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  And that's the only way we got out of town because there were people being bashed in the streets for hours afterwards. Cars were being run off the road by people. And John Minto, one of the main anti-tour activists, got really badly bashed. It was pretty horrific, you know, and it was scary.

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  A hundred and fifty thousand New Zealanders come out against the Springboks. They're some of the most dramatic protests against apartheid outside South Africa. The Springboks finally get the hint and they never tour anywhere overseas again until South Africa is free in 1994. It's an epic win, delivered by First Nations people and their supporters.

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  Fast forward to the mid 1980s and back across the ditch, Gary Ellis retired from rugby and is working for the Department of Aboriginal Affairs. His brother Glenn is still playing rugby and while he's with the Wallabies, he hears a lot of talk about the legendary South African Springboks and the Australian ban against playing them.

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  The Springboks were recognised as one of the best teams prior to the apartheid ban. But again, we had to do what we had to do. The government dictated what we had to do and we supported their stance. But if you asked any Wallaby in my time, would they like to play against the Springboks? They'd all put up their hands.

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  In 1985, secret plans emerge of an Australian Rebel Rugby Sevens Tour of South Africa and Glenn Ella is asked to join the team. But there's a hitch because remember, only white men can play rugby in South Africa. Glenn's facing the same dilemma as Lloyd McDermott did 20 years earlier. There's been plenty of media hype about it and the spotlight is on him as a black player. So he leaves it to the last minute to decide what to do.

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  They were saying I had to be an honorary white man to get into South Africa. I remember sitting at my girlfriend's, now my wife's, place. I hadn't even packed a bag, hadn't done anything.

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  Glenn knows that his brother Gary and the rest of his proud black family won't be happy if he breaks the boycott by going. He knows it could defide the family. The clock's ticking and things have gotten to the point where the media are actually waiting outside his door.

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  So that put a lot of pressure on myself and my wife. I thought I was just going to play a game of rugby in another country. But when I decided that I was going to go, there was no ironing, no nothing. It was just whatever I can grab, whatever toiletry I can grab and just shot it in the bag and then... I got in a taxi and then took off to the airport and then you could see the press were following me and when I got to the airport, they were all over me as well. It was really a circus.

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  Three of Australia's top rugby union players, including Glenn Eller, left Sydney today to compete in South Africa. The acting Foreign Minister, Senator Gareth Evans, immediately issued a statement saying their visit was a matter of regret. Eller belongs to Australia's most famous Aboriginal sporting family. In South Africa, Eller will receive the temporary status of a white. So did he think he was betraying the black South African struggle against apartheid?

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  I suppose everyone who goes to South Africa is a traitor to their cause. The Australian government's a traitor to their cause because they're still training with them. Was money a consideration in going there to play? There's no money involved at all. Glenn's brother Gary first hears about his massive decision to go to South Africa on the news.

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  The first thing I heard about it was they were on the plane leaving the country. So Glenn was one of them. And I got really upset. Here I am, working for the benefit of Aboriginal people, for black people across Australia, and here's Glenn going to play football against a team that's totally white and black people didn't have the opportunity to even being considered to play the game.

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  When we got to Joburg, there was a massive Afrikaner person that was in the aisle. And when I went up to him, I thought, oh, here we go. And the first thing he said is, hello, Mr. Eller, in the big South African accent. We're glad you're here to play rugby. And that was it.

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  The rest of the tour goes off uneventfully. But when the media scrum dies down, Gary and Glenn do get to talk about it.

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  Look, that was an experience and an opportunity. You know, probably one of the hardest decisions I've had to make in my life was to go to Durban to play the Sevens. But in hindsight, I'm glad I did.

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  But I did ask Glenn later on why he went. And he said, we'd heard a lot about South Africa, he had to see it for himself. I said, that's great, but next time, can you tell me before you go so I can be prepared?

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  In 1990, thanks to the massive global effort of sports, cultural and economic sanctions, Nelson Mandela is released. He's been imprisoned for 27 years.

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  They're just catching a sight of this figure now. Yes, he's alongside Winnie Mandela, both of them raising their arms in the air.

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  Then, four years later, he's elected president of a new, free South Africa. Apartheid has ended, sporting sanctions are dropped, and it's our turn to proudly host the Rugby World Cup. For the first time, everyone, black, white and brindle, gets behind the Springboks. Earlier in the day, the president had flown in for a special meeting with the team to extend his personal wishes for World Cup success, at the same time, to reflect on the days when blacks and coloureds barracked against the Springboks. Our loyalties have completely changed. We have adopted this young man as our own boys, as our own children.

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  And while the opening game of the tournament is not a great day for Australian rugby, it's a huge day for South Africa.

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  Nelson Mandela is being given at least some of the credit for South Africa's surprise win last night over the Wallabies, uniting the nation behind the Springboks for the first time in history. The South African captain declared he would win it for the president. True to his word, his side surged to a 27-18 win against the defending champions in the opening match of the World Cup.

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  For the final, Mandela wears the Springbok Guernsey. After all those years of campaigning against the Springbok segregated team, it's just magic. Springbok number one, people! The Springboks now embrace Nelson. Mendela as the secret 16th team member who yesterday made all the difference. Finally, rugby in South Africa is transforming. Chester Williams, a talented black player, dazzles in that final and South Africa wins against the All Blacks. It's a big day for the rainbow nation.

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  I imagine back in Australia, Lloyd McDermott is watching that final and despite his love for this country, I reckon he's cheering for the Springboks. By now, he's had a long career as a barrister, but he's always stayed passionate about rugby. He can't help noticing that there have only been a handful of indigenous Wallabies. While AFL and Rugby League have so many black players, they just aren't playing rugby union.

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  Only five Aboriginals, myself and the Lloyd Walker three others, ever played rugby for Australia. We realised there's a reason for this and it was apartheid, not the apartheid that I fought against in South Africa, but the economic apartheid. Rugby was only played at the privileged and private schools and Aboriginal parents could not afford to send their children to schools like Riverview, St Joseph's College or Cranbrook College or where the rich and the famous and the powerful sent their sons. So we decided to take the game to them and this is how we got the rugby development team underway.

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  Lloyd ropes in Gary and Glen Ella and they form the Lloyd McDermott Rugby Development Team, training and mentoring young players. Then, in the early 2000s, they take a team over to play in South Africa and discover people have long memories.

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  We played against the South Africans under 18s team as Kurt and I raised to a test match and we played a couple of other games. We're still quite surprised to see how, particularly on the day of the test match, how many black South Africans were wearing Wallaby jerseys, New South Wales, Queensland jerseys to the game. They were showing support for, I guess, people that were showing them support during the periods of apartheid.

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  Mollinger Waka Lloyd McDermott joins them on the tour. And remarkably, black South Africans also remember the stand he took almost 40 years earlier.

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  A lot of people knew him. A lot of people were coming up to him and spending time talking to him. And some of them actually said thank you for his personal boycott of apartheid. He was very endeared by that. He was very happy. He was very good at talking to some of the guys who he could have played against if he'd actually gone.

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  The Lloyd McDermott development team has been running now for 30 years, and thankfully, it no longer benefits just boys. And that is the very last episode of Boycott: The Fight to End Apartheid. But if it's the first episode you've heard, go back to episode one. I promise you won't regret it. I'm Sisong Kemsimang, and this has been a Rewind production for Radio National.