Plot Summary:Documentary series covering famous sporting rivalries.
A Call to Arms
The fourth of six programmes that relive great sporting rivalries.
Sport collided with politics in 1974 in one of the greatest rugby clashes ever seen - the British Lions playing the Springboks in a tour of South Africa, a country then gripped by apartheid.
The Lion's tour was opposed in Britain by politicians and activists.
Here, team members, including Willie John McBride , Gareth Edwards and JJ Williams , explain why they risked their reputations, and even theirjobs, to breach an international embargo and take on the Springboks, a team unbeaten in 18 international matches.
Other contributors include
Steve Tshwete , at the time imprisoned on Robben Island and now South Africa's
Sports Minister, and former Observer editor Donald Trelford , whose paper led a protest against the tour. Home cine footage recalls the team's progress. Director/Producer Danny Fenton