#9 v2 | Page 24

More Than Just a Game
Football v Apartheid
“Yet%through%it%all,%football%became%their%release,%their%hope,%their%
pride%and%their%salvation”%
More%than%Just%a%Game:!I!bet!that!phrase!has!been!used!
by! generations! of! football! fans! in! pubs,! clubs,! board!
rooms,! press! rooms! and! living! rooms! as! match! day!
incidents! are! recalled,! attendances! pondered! over! the!
game! dissected! and! analysed.! It! sounds! like! something!
that!Bill!Shankly!or!Brian!Clough!would!have!uttered!and!
quite! possibly! they! did.! However,! the! context! in! which! I!
remember! it! comes! from! the! title! of! a! book,! or! more!
importantly! the! subject! matter! of! said! book! and!
something!I!heard!about!Birst!hand!back!in!2007!while!on!
a!trade!mission!to!South!Africa.!!

!

After! watching! a! Sunday! game! of! football! in! the! Shanty!
Town!of!Alexandria!played!by!boys!no!older!than!18!in!a!
crowd! of! over! 2000! our! party! moved! on! to! visit! the!
Apartheid! Museum! and! then! to! a! restaurant! named!
Wandies!in!Soweto!where!we!met!up!with!a!friend!of!one!
of! our! party! for! a! meal! and! chance! to! unwind.! The! guest!
was!introduced!simply!as!Tony!and!as!we!sat!down!to!eat!
we!struck!up!a!conversation!about!how!our!day!had!been!
and!naturally!the!football!soon!entered!the!conversation.!I!
wanted! to! talk! about! the! museum! visit,! the! moving! walk!
through! 45! years! of! abominable! Apartheid;! but! all! he!
wanted!to!talk!about!was!football.!!

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!

He!asked!about!“my”!club,!although!he!knew!a!
lot!about!us!anyway!as!his!friend!in!the!party!
was! a! Newcastle! Utd! supporter! and! had!
obviously!regaled!him!of!all!that!is!great!about!
NUFC!!And!as!we!continued!to!chat!he!started!
to! open! up! about! his! own! playing! career;! how! he! played!
as! a! striker! and! how! he! represented! only! one! team! in! a!
league! run! by! a! body! known! as! the! Makana! FA.!
Shamefully,!It!meant!nothing!to!me;!although!really,!I!was!
just!a!bloke!from!Newcastle!who!couldn’t!see!past!my!own!
club,!the!Premier!league,!the!odd!European!league!or!two!
and! certainly! nothing! about! African! football! that! I! could!
write!home!about.!!

!

But!there!was!something!that!was!bugging!me.!The!smile!
on! my! fellow! traveller’s! ! ! face! and! the! odd! glances! that!
went!across!the!table!between!the!two!told!me!there!was!
something! I! wasn’t! being! told.! It! was! also! apparent! that!
every! African! in! the! restaurant! seemed! to! know! this! guy!
Tony;! so! I! questioned! more! and! after! much! prompting,!
Tony!opened!up!about!how!he!and!his!friends!had!created!
their! own! league! to! play! in! and! had! set! up! everything!
from! scratch.! Some! became! referees;! others! coaches,!
players,!physios!or!managers.!Others!were!responsible!for!
maintaining! all! forms! of! on! pitch! and! off! pitch! discipline!
and!sat!on!the!disciplinary!board.!I!immediately!began!to!
think!Subbuteo!or!some!other!kind!of!table!football!game;!

and!had!no!idea!what!was!to!come!when!Tony!mentioned!
that!they!had!afBiliated!themselves!to!FIFA.!!
Now!this!was!getting!serious;!afBiliating!yourself!to!FIFA!!!

!

And!that!was!when!the!bombshell!landed.!This!league!was!
founded! on! Robben! Island;! the! Alcatraz! of! South! Africa!
and! “home”! to! political! prisoners! like! Walter! Sisulu,!
Nelson! Mandela,! President! Jacob! Zuma! and! indeed! Tony!
himself;!from!1963!until!his!release!in!1978.!Talk!about!a!
game! changer,! well! that! bombshell! was! certainly! the!
biggest!one!I!had!walked!into!in!all!my!days.!Tony!was!20!
years!old!when!he!was!sentenced;!an!enemy!of!the!State;!
fed!on!cold!porridge!for!breakfast,!boiled!maize!for!lunch!
and!a!mix!of!boiled!beetroot