It's 1981 and New Zealand is about to host the Springboks from apartheid South Africa for a national rugby tour. The well-supported protest movement pitches against a nation of die-hard rugby supporters. Despite growing public protest, the Government and Rugby Union are adamant the tour will proceed.

Beth returns from London. Her World War 2 veteran father is a rugby fanatic, her brother becomes a protestor embroiled in street violence. She studies law and meets Viktor who, unknown to her, is a member of the notorious Police Red Squad. What will happen to their polarised relationship in a country where the very survival of civil order is at risk?

In this fast-paced novel, the nuances and tensions of the infamous 1981 Springbok Tour are probed and laid bare.

Quoted from Dr David V Williams FRSNZ:

There were bitter divisions within sports clubs, families, hapū, church congregations, service organisations etc that took many years to heal — and in some cases never healed. Racist attitudes were to be found in many different places. And not just in rugby clubs and RSA bars. Protestors taunted Māori and Pacific policemen with racist abuse. Many protestors were totally ignorant of the racism of colonial policies in New Zealand's history, and became very defensive when challenged by radical Māori leaders within the movement.

In many ways, the rawness of the deep divisions in 1981 can be better expressed in a novel that weaves in the events of the tour through the eyes of fictional characters, than it would be in a factual history of the year (written with the benefit of hindsight that apartheid is no more). Kerry Harrison has done a brilliant job in encapsulating the dogmas and doubts of her protagonists — a varsity student, a cop and their families and lovers as the rugby tour lurched from one confrontation to another, culminating in the Marlborough Street riot and the Red Squad bashings of a group of clowns on the day of the final test match. The title Hold the Line is excellent. Moral indignation and a sense that a line needed to be held was not a preserve of the protestors. Politicians, rugby union officials, lawyers, and police all had lines that they believed at that time needed to be held.

Kerry Harrison

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