The Role of Sports in South African Politics

Ever since its inception in 1896, the Modern Olympics has hosted an invisible sport: politics. The Olympics calls for “a halt to all conflicts … [and to] strive towards a more peaceful world,” but politics soon spoiled its biennial message. “As the Olympics continue to dissolve into … a political competition … they no longer … justify the time and trouble,” Dave Anderson, Pulitzer Prize winner for his sports column, wrote in the New York Times in 1984. The Olympic spirit has routinely been used as an outlet for political agendas. With political and Olympic ambitions intersected, the great international sports festivity negatively affects all nations involved.

makers. “A problem with conflict theory is that deviance in sports is always assumed to be the

Though their writings show similarity in the negativity that surround these sports, their essays differ for the feelings the writers feel now. Bowling refuses to watch hockey, whereas, Zimmerman still has a passion for the sport. For Bowling the sport has been ruined by the violence, the marketing, and the ways it has changed from a sport to business. He says, “ When I was a boy, the boards, ice, and score clock were free of advertising; goals and assists meant more than salaries; and players and teams had distinct character” (Bowling,215). For Bowling, he was still looking for the same sport that he watched growing up, what he sees today, he does not recognize. According to him young boys are being sexually abused by coaches, players are badly hurting others and people like Don Cherry are exploiting others for a good laugh. He sees violence everywhere in the sport now, not the good, old, pure sportsmanship he saw growing up. He also says, “Why should I follow a sport whose foundation in this country is made of blood and beer and an empty rhetoric around outdated and destructive notions of patriotism and manhood” (Bowling, 215). He loves the sport but cannot support what has become of it. Zimmerman shares the love for soccer as other Africans, he says, “my heart will break too, if Ghana fails to win the Africa Cup” (Zimmerman, 346). He wishes for the best, for both the country and the sport. He doesn’t want them to build an identity around

Sport can create hope where once there was only despair. Nelson Mandela used sports and his movie Invictus to persuade and to depict the power of unity in a country (Edward). Nelson Mandela used the power of music and the power of movies to influence American culture.

To this end, Mandela became the first global leader to use sport as a tool to unite individuals and reformulate a nations international image through the transformative power of sport. His words, actions, and leadership with respect to sport for developmental remain profoundly relevant today irrespective

Sport has been used to show the worthiness of an estranged group and nudge the nation to live up to its stated ideals. An example to the protests

The institution of slavery, in fact, compelled the vast majority of African Americans to “steal” time for leisure and recreation, just as they stole a certain kind of knowledge when they learned to read and write. The civil war however painful it was, had a good side to it as well, this being that it helped to bring a stop to slavery. This meant freedom, citizenship, and constitutional protections from the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments, however this did not mean too much to America’s black population. The good that came from the end of slavery was overshadowed by institutionalised racial segregation and repression that treated African American’s as second-class citizens.

After spending twenty-seven years in prison, Nelson Mandela was released from prison on February 11, 1990. In 1991, Nelson Mandela was chosen to become president of the African National Congress. In 1993, Mandela and South African President F.W. de Klerk announced an agreement that the African National Congress and the National Party form a transitional government, effectively ending apartheid and opening the political process to all South Africans (Williamson). Mandela was elected President of South Africa in 1994, and de Klerk became his first deputy. However, even with apartheid abolished, South Africa was still a divided country. Mandela’s legal adviser, Nicholas Haysom, said, “South Africa in 1994 was a country that was split,

Sport plays a huge role in today’s society. It contributes to one’s health and fitness, social interaction, social and motor skills, patriotism, fun and entertainment. It also stimulates the economy and tourism leading to interaction between different cultures, for example the Olympics, and sport role models. Sports clearly are an important part of cultures and societies around the world as such events as the Olympics

    Nelson Mandela unified South Africa by using sports and the Truth Reconciliation Committee. Through sports like rugby, Mandela brought South Africa together. Rugby was mainly seen as a white game. Even today, it attracts mainly white supporters, and most of the players are white.  In 1995, there were still fears about the policies the government would adopt in regards to the treatment of white people. Mandela showed white South Africans that there was no cause for worry and that they would be included in the new South Africa. The Springboks (the name of the national rugby team) were hated by the blacks, he used this opportunity to unify the blacks and whites. At a rally he put on a Springboks hat, he supported the team every step of the way and encouraged South Africans of all races to get behind the Springboks (Bartleby.com). The Rugby World Cup was held in South Africa in 1955 and South Africa won so the whole country

“Nelson Mandela is a man of destiny” -F.W. De Klerk (140). How did a man who spent 27 years in prison change the hearts and minds of people who called him “terrorist in chief?” Is it possible for one man’s determination and careful planning change the direction of a country so set on the norm? John Carlin tells the story of Nelson Mandela through the eyes of people close to him as well as through the eyes of his enemies. Both friends and enemies portray just his presence as overwhelming. Invictus tells the story of how Mandela used his overwhelming presence to unite a country through the sport of rugby. The story begins on the morning of the 1995 Rugby World Cup championship game. The rest of the book details how he got to that

But as Nelson fought for having a rainbow nation through the rugby, colour people started to change their minds and support their country as they didnt do before. They lea rned to play the sport; they waved the Spring Boks flag and the South African one and also shared the passion for the game with all the African population.

Sports, admittedly, have had a huge impact on our culture. Some of us even use sports as an excuse to gather our family for some quality time with each other, whether they just hangout for the sake of entertainment or engage in a meaningful conversation full of fervid passion when discussing spectacular plays, athletes, and coaches. However, people talk about the multitude of positive traits that sports are associated with, one must be informed about the abundance of issues that sports face; issues that keep sports from being what we want it to be- free from malicious intent and more along the lines of a peaceful collaboration perpetuated by authentic equality; coming together to proclaim our love for the game. Inequality, for example, is

Many of the contemporary issues in South Africa can easily be associated with the apartheid laws which devastated the country. The people of South Africa struggle day by day to reverse “the most cruel, yet well-crafted,” horrific tactic “of social engineering.” The concept behind apartheid emerged in 1948 when the nationalist party took over government, and the all-white government enforced “racial segregation under a system of legislation” . The central issues stem from 50 years of apartheid include poverty, income inequality, land ownership rates and many other long term affects that still plague the brunt of the South African population while the small white minority still enjoy much of the wealth, most of the land and opportunities

The focus of this theory is based on the idea that society consists of patterns of interdependencies among individuals and group sports are exciting activities that alleviate boredom and that manages aggression. Research focuses on developing knowledge that presents valid pictures of reality. “Culture, Civilization and the Sociology of Sport”, centers around discussions of work that the author (Dunning, 1992) and a number of colleagues at the University of Leicester conducted on sports in relation to what their late Norbert Elias (1939) called the theory of the 'Civilizing process". It begins by outlining some of the basic assumptions of the figurational approach from (Mennell, 1989) which this work is