新西兰英语 281 Rugby Union apology

　　On Friday, the New Zealand Rugby Union apologised to New Zealand for not allowing Maori All Blacks to play in South Africa in the past. Also on Friday, the South African Rugby Union apologised to New Zealand and to the South African black people who could not play for their country.
This was the time of apartheid in South Africa when white people and black people were separated. South Africans love rugby in the same way as New Zealanders love rugby. However, the Springboks (the South African team) were white players. They invited the All Blacks to South Africa in 1928, 1949 and 1960 but only white players. The Rugby Union accepted the invitations. In 1960, 150,000 New Zealanders signed a petition¹ to say that the All Blacks should not go. There were protests and some Pakeha All Blacks said they would not tour South Africa if Maori players could not go. However, in the end an all white All Blacks team went to South Africa.
In 1981, the Springboks toured New Zealand. There was still apartheid in South Africa. Many New Zealanders wanted our government to stop the tour but Prime Minister, Mr Muldoon, said that politics should stay out of sport. The tour split² our country – about half the people wanted to stop the tour and the other half wanted it to continue. There were huge protests, and in one case, the rugby game had to be stopped as protesters broke through fences and crowded onto the field. Police wore riot³ gear⁴ – helmets and shields – and carried batons⁵ for hitting people. It was a terrible time in our history.
After 1981, there were no more games between the All Blacks and the Springboks until apartheid had gone in the 1990s.
Listen to January 10th 2010 for more about protests at sporting events.
Questions to think about
1. Is it possible to keep politics out of sport?
2. Think about Olympic Games. Why is there a medal count for each country? Is this politics?
3. Do players want to win for themselves or for their country?
4. Is an apology 50 years later helpful? Is it too late?

1 petition   

n.请愿书，申请书，诉状；v.请愿，正式请求

参考例句：

• Thousands of citizens subscribed the petition.几千名公民在请愿书上签名。
• The number of signers of the petition for a new school snowballed.要求增设新学校而签名的人像滚雪球似的越来越多。

2 split   

n.劈开，裂片，裂口；adj.分散的；v.分离，分开，劈开

参考例句：

• Who told you that Mary and I had split up?谁告诉你玛丽和我已经离婚了？
• The teacher split the class up into six groups.老师把班级分成6个小组。

3 riot   

n.暴（骚）乱，（色彩等）极度丰富；vi.聚众闹事

参考例句：

• They had to call the police in order to put down the riot.他们只得叫来警察以平定骚乱。
• Flowers of all sorts are blooming in a riot of colour.百花盛开，万紫千红。

4 gear   

n.齿轮，传动装置，设备，衣服；vt.使适应

参考例句：

• We have to gear our lives to the new changes.我们必须使自己的生活适应新的变化。
• The teeth of the wheel gear into each other.齿轮互相啮合。

5 batons   

n.（警察武器）警棍( baton的名词复数 )；（乐队指挥用的）指挥棒；接力棒

参考例句：

• There were many riot policemen with batons. 有许多带警棍的防暴警察。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Chinese police fight? Number one is a person with batons to fight! 满街飘的中国国旗，是一个老华侨在事发时那出来分给大家的，很感动，真的，从来一向多一事不如少一事的中国人今天团结到一起站出来反抗。 来自互联网