ABSTRACT
The essay, mostly autobiographical, focuses on my coming of age as a football fan in late Apartheid South Africa. The 1980s — the time of my teens — were crucial to forming my football loyalties. Television and print media in South Africa fuelled my obsession with English football and shaped how I experienced football fandom. In the essay, I engage with familial, communal, local and international ties that impacted my choice of teams to support, especially my enduring devotion to Liverpool Football Club. The essay also comments on my complicated relationship with South African football and the media landscape of the 1980s.
