The 1981 Springbok tour is commonly described as one of the most divisive events in New Zealand's history, splitting families and communities. The Amner brothers from Hamilton are an example of that division.
Bryce was part of the anti-apartheid movement, while Lindsay was a rugby fan.
Both were at the infamous Hamilton game in 1981 but for very different reasons.
Lindsay, who was 16 years old at the time, had a prime position right on the fence at Rugby Park.
He had saved up $4 for his ticket and was looking forward to watching Waikato take on the Springboks.
"Even though we were reasonably well aware of South Africa and apartheid… it still wasn't that real, when you're 16. Rugby was real, I wanted to see some rugby," he tells 1 NEWS.
Meanwhile, older brother Bryce, who was 18 years old at the time, was behind the stadium ramming cattle trucks and deflating tyres, or in the opinion of his sibling, being "a stirrer."
Bryce half-concedes that, but says he was very committed to fighting apartheid.
"Yeah OK, well, I had the New Zealand tradition of going for the underdog," he says.
Much to the disappointment of Lindsay, the game was canceled after protesters stormed the field. He remembers being "pretty angry."
But it wasn't until later at home that Lindsay found out Bryce was among the protesters, although he wasn't one of the pitch invaders.
Things got heated between the two but their mother kept them from coming to blows.
"Strong words, strong words. no violence," Lindsay says.
But the violence came the next day at church, when Bryce got punched in the face in the foyer by a youth group leader.
"The conservative church we went to was pretty much pro-tour and I was a bit of an odd one out there, I picked up a nickname over it," Bryce says.
The 1981 tour is often viewed as a clash between conservatives and liberals, rural communities and urban.
Miranda Johnson, who teaches history at Otago University says it was a much more complex picture.
She says opinion polling from that time shows Auckland, for example, was 50-50 divided over the tour, while in Dunedin there was very strong opposition against the tour.
Forty years on, Lindsay accepts he was on the wrong side of history and says it was naive to think sport and politics shouldn't mix.
"If I was to do it today, I would probably want to go to a game and see some rugby but I would probably carry a sign protesting apartheid or something like that."
He thinks the protesters were "right to protest but for the wrong reasons" and their goal of cancelling the tour would have been counterproductive in highlighting apartheid.
The brothers' rift was short-lived, but they will always remember this defining period of their youth.
"I'm proud to say I was right, and I'm glad to have played a part in it," Bryce says.
SHARE ME