A RUGBY BALL FROM THE 1981 APARTHEID TOUR SIGNED BY THE IRISH AND SOUTH AFRICAN SQUADS
Lot 358 at Mullen’s timed online Collector’s Cabinet sale which runs to the evening of April 27 recalls memories of the highly controversial Ireland rugby tour to South Africa in 1981. The IRFU defied a worldwide sporting boycott on South Africa and sanctioned the tour, despite condemnation from the anti-apartheid movement and across the political spectrum in Ireland and Britain. The apartheid tour was condemned by the Irish public and is seen as a low point in Irish rugby. The Irish team played seven matches and won three. Donal Spring, Hugo MacNeill, Tony Ward and Moss Keane refused to travel. In the first test the South African player Erroll George Tobias became the first coloured player to appear in an international for the Republic of South Africa. The rugby ball is estimated at €400-€600.