Schnioffsky, Bess ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0009-2707-1777, Fenwick, Kirby ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3337-4415, Symons, K ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8053-9211 and Hess, Rob ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6242-0404 (2026) ‘Here to Just Play’: Investigating the Violent Protests That Occurred in Melbourne During South Africa’s Netball Tour of Australia in 1970. International Journal of the History of Sport. ISSN 0952-3367

Abstract

In 1970 the Victorian women’s netball team was caught up in the growing political storm of the anti-apartheid movement when, as part of a tour of Australia, the all-white South African netball team were scheduled to play against Victoria at the Royal Park stadium on Wednesday, June 3, 1970. This controversial match, which became the site of student protests and police arrests, received extensive media coverage in Melbourne and beyond. Constructing a narrative drawn from a range of newspaper sources, photographs, and archival documents demonstrates how the legacy of these events has been largely overlooked in the history of netball in Victoria as well as in studies of the anti-apartheid movement in Australia. The events of 1970 are an important and instructive case study of the complex relationship between women’s sports, politics and race at that time.

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