Review Essay on Peter Alegi, Laduma! Soccer, Politics and Society in South Africa

With the readmission of South African football into the international fold in 1992, a new phase began in the nation’s sporting history. In football, the euphoria continued with the national team winning the 1996 African Cup of Nations and participating in two World Cups in France in 1998 and Japan and South Korea in 2002. In addition to staging the 1996 African Cup of Nations, the most important football competition, the FIFA World Cup will be held in the country in 2010. Despite the above-mentioned successes, relatively few studies have focussed on South African football. Mark Gleeson, South Africa’s foremost football writer and commentator, notes in his forward to the book Laduma! Soccer, Politics and Society in South Africa that ‘a general apathy with regard to the history of sport and its role in the development of South African society has ensured that this country does not possess a formal history of its football [and that] Laduma! will inspire others to add to this rich tapestry of our sporting heritage’.[ ¹ ] Recent popular works amongst others on football in South Africa include: Friedman’s biographical account of two of South Africa’s most popular modern day players, Mark Fish and Lucas Radebe; Auf Der Heyde’s journalistic account of reporting on football in Africa; Raath’s richly detailed documentation of the history of the game and many of the clubs and Mazwai’s glossy pictorial account of the last 30 years of the sport.[ ² ] These contributions certainly fill important gaps in documenting a variety of aspects of the game more generally. However, Alegi’s Laduma! is significant as it represents a richly detailed academic account of the historical development of football in South Africa. In addition, the author’s analysis is intersected by the broader political and social issues often neglected in some of the other accounts. Alegi’s contribution is part of an increasing body of academic work concerned with football in South Africa. Moreover, it contributes to the social history of sport in the country.