Minto's moment

Who's the most unlikely New Zealander to be honoured near Eden Park? John Landrigan reveals.
All Black supporters might feel a little blue: it's proposed to name a new road near hallowed Eden Park after John Minto, the veteran protester who led the campaign against the 1981 Springbok tour.
Minto Walkway is one of three names suggested by community representatives protesting at what they call Auckland City Council's excessive spending around the park for next year's Rugby World Cup.
Porangi Walkway, which means "crazy" in Maori, and Mandela Walkway are also suggested for the $3 millon link to help people through the area during the tournament.
John Minto's name was mud to many rugby fans when he was the loudhailer-wielder of bloody anti-apartheid protests during the fraught tour. Clashes between police,
protesters and parochial rugby fans marred the South African national team's visit and stopped one game in Hamilton.
Ian Revell, a former MP and a police detective sergeant during that tour, is not impressed.
"That is outrageous to name it after Minto. I don't think his actions meet the normal criteria for street naming.
"I would have thought Colin Meads Way or Brian Lochore Lane," he suggests, citing the All Black legends.
The controversial road is included in an $18 million spend on the Sandringham corridor, which entails widening the railway station platform, installing  controlled pedestrian crossings and peak-time bus lanes.
The $3 million buys and removes two houses to create the lane and shorten the walk to Kingsland station - some say, by as little as two minutes.
John Minto, who first heard his name was being considered for the walkway from The Aucklander, was the national organiser for the Halt All Racist Tours movement (Hart).
He says the city's "right-wing" council would ultimately blanch at using his name.
"It's a sweet suggestion but I will politely decline. They should call it John Banks' Folly."
Mr Minto says money being splashed about for a small number of rugby games during the 2011 tournament is obscene. He lives close to the ground and says the hassle to get around the busy stadium is minimal.
"If they were opening the park up for the community it would be okay, but this is spending ratepayers' money for corporates making money from rugby."
The new road is a one-way thoroughfare for cars and pedestrians that will be used as a walking track during the big matches.
The suggested names were narrowed down after Eden/Albert Community Board members put their ideas in a hat. Porangi, or crazy, was one suggestion because the board opposes the money spent on the lane, says chairman Christopher Dempsey.
"This was a crazy walkway. This was a protest about it being needed for four international rugby games during the Rugby World Cup."
Minto and Mandela were suggested to highlight the significance of the Springbok tour, he says.
A city council street officer will canvass people who live near the lane and other affected parties before reporting to the council for final approval.
Sports report
The All Blacks won the deciding test of the 1981 Springbok tour at Eden Park 25-22, thanks to an injury-time penalty by Alan Hewson. But the off-field events overshadowed the game.
Fighting erupted in streets surrounding the park - the picture shows police dealing with a protester in Onslow Ave. Marx Jones and Grant Cole hired a Cessna aeroplane and dropped flares and flour bombs on the field during the game. All Black prop Gary Knight was hit but not injured.
The earlier match against Waikato at Hamilton was called off after hundreds of anti-tour protesters invaded the pitch. Nelson Mandela has been quoted as saying that when he was in his prison cell on Robben Island and heard the game in Hamilton had been cancelled, it was "as if the sun had come out".