The festival originally came about in the wake of the 2007 outbreak of foot and mouth disease.
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The All Blacks should also have played matches in Ireland, including a test match against Ireland on 16 December but they were forced to cancel this section of the tour because of the 1967 United Kingdom foot-and-mouth outbreak.
The outbreak was referenced by the villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld in the James Bond film On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969).
An annual "International" sheepdog trial, has been held every year since 1906, with breaks only for the two World Wars and the 2001 Foot and Mouth outbreak.
North and Booker wrote a special edition for Private Eye on the 2001 United Kingdom foot-and-mouth outbreak, describing the subsequent merger of the Agriculture (MAFF) and Environment ministries to form the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) as the "most cynical makeover since Windscale changed its name to Sellafield".
A ProMED-mail post described the epizootic and subsequent cancellations of festivities as being reminiscent of Britain's February 19, 2001 foot-and-mouth disease outbreak, and even more so of an outbreak in Japan beginning late March 2010, which was caused by the same strain of the virus.
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Joyce D'Silva, Director of Public Affairs for Compassion in World Farming, said that they are "appalled", and argued that it is contrary to international guidelines on humane culling, which the South Korean government allegedly endorsed.
The event was held despite the ongoing foot and mouth outbreak, unlike a number of other festivals at the time.