From time to time, the different worlds of politics and sport can collide.

This year marks the 45th anniversary of the visit of the Springbok rugby team to Ireland in 1970. It was a sporting tour of Britain and Ireland that was overshadowed by massive protests both here and across the Irish Sea.

When the all-white Springbok team played in Lansdowne Road at the height of apartheid, they did so behind barbed wire erected to keep protesters out.

Donal Fallon of Come Here to Me Blog joined Breakfast as always on a Tuesday for this edition of Hidden Histories.

As he explained, the British leg of the Springboks' tour had been overshadowed by protests and opposition to the team's presence. 

"It's the civil rights movement in the North that says 'we will not tolerate the Springboks playing here in Ireland,'" said Donal.

"With the heightened tension, the authorities were fearful of what could happen if this team visits the North of Ireland and they cancelled it in the winter of '69."

However, cancelling the team's visit to the North heaped pressure on the government south of the border according to Donal, with demonstrations focused on the Irish Rugby Football Union headquarters in Dublin.

"They were due to play in Dublin and in Limerick, and there was massive pressure on the IRFU," he said.

But how did it all finally play out in Dublin and Limerick?

Listen in below (31 minutes in):