A 5,000 strong crowd, made up mostly of university students, gathered in the streets of Melbourne to march on Olympic Park in protest.
[8] According to Meredith Burgmann and Peter McGregor, both leading firebrands, the rugby tour was a crucial target but to stop the summer's cricketing visit was the ultimate goal.
Seven players of the Australia national rugby union team – Jim Boyce, Tony Abrahams, Paul Darveniza, Terry Forman, Barry McDonald, James Roxburgh and Bruce Taafe – who had previously toured South Africa for three months in 1969 and seen the effects of the "ruthless" apartheid system "both in everyday life in South Africa and within the rugby stadiums themselves", declared "their opposition to the continuation of sporting ties with the South African Republic".
[11] Dubbed the "Rugby Seven" and the "Anti-Apartheid Seven", their non-violent action was an "unprecedented stance in refusing to play against the Springboks".
[12] The anti-apartheid protests had influenced the cancellation of the South African cricket team tour in Australia in 1971–72.