By the Balls

By The Balls broke the cone of silence surrounding those tumultuous days and months. As well as being a compelling docu-drama, it unveiled the politics of buck-passing ... Winning the World Cup laid issues to rest. Something had to be healed and the World Cup was that healing balm.

– Writer Malcolm Hopwood in The Manawatu Standard, 20 September 2019

Rugby is now bereft of credibility, bereft of respect, unable to tell the truth.

– Former Prime Minister David Lange on the 1986 rebel tour of South Africa, quoted in Stuff, 15 September 2019

By the 1980s the world had come to realise what a horror apartheid was. More and more sports condemned South Africa for its policies of racial discrimination, and pressure was building for us to cut ties with South Africa.

– Veteran sports broadcaster Keith Quinn on the turbulent mood of the 1980s

I felt that if we went to Africa we could go with a multicultural team and show them how the world should be. So that was probably a naive look at it.

– Former All Black John Kirwan describes his mindset in the mid 1980s

Excellent and engrossing ... entertaining and enlightening mix of archival footage (including the infamous 1986 Battle of Nantes), pop-culture moments and a soundtrack that includes Blam Blam Blam and The Dudes ... fully deserves to find a large audience.

– Stuff reviewer James Croot on By the Balls, 15 September 2019