Springbok Tour division relected in Hamilton school

When teacher trainee Maurice Abraham saw Hamilton's Rugby Park fence fall, he did not hesitate to join the hundreds of people sprinting on to the field.

"It seemed like the parting of the water, even the crowd stood aside - I always thought it seemed like it was allowed to happen."

Protesters were being tackled all around him.

"I wormed my way right to the middle because I was scared and then it became a matter of waiting it out."

About 350 protesters formed a tight scrum in the middle of the field.

"We were pressed in solid and tensions were high.

"At one point, a guy next to me was accused of being an undercover cop, and they tried to have a bit of a fight."

It was "terrifying" to see the crowds in the stands "baying for blood".

Over the course of an hour, police arrested about 50 people.

The stand-off continued for almost three hours and then police announced over a loud hailer that the game was off.

"They said, 'We can't guarantee your safety, we suggest you leave in a group through the northwest corner', which was pretty hairy because it was between the grass embankment, like going out a corridor, with people above you."

Among the mob of rugby supporters, he came face to face with students from the school where he was on section.

His hand was slashed open by a bottle as he held it protectively over the head of a fellow protester, a woman in her 50s.

He saw a man's head split by a bottle, and then the ambulance was attacked.

In the melee, he managed to make his way to a prearranged meeting place where his partner, Leigh, was waiting.

In the next few weeks, feelings were still pretty high around the school and students spat on him in the stairwell.

"It was pretty difficult for me because I'm a rugby man through and through.

"The school had taken a very brave stand and withdrawn its teams from local competition, which created a lot of bad feeling in the school."

The division in the school mirrored the split right through society. Even his five flatmates were divided.

Now principal of Opotiki College, he is reminded of his role in the protests every year, when the school's social studies classes study the conflict.

The course features a documentary which includes footage of a kid being hit with a bottle, and Abraham yelling for an ambulance.

"I didn't realise I was on it, but the kids recognise my voice because I'm always yelling around the school.

"I always worried whether it had really made a difference or not, until last year when I went to South Africa for a principals' conference.

"I met a lot of former political prisoners who were very clear that what happened in New Zealand lifted their morale and hastened the dismantling of apartheid."

- NZPA