ABSTRACT
This chapter demonstrates the close connections between sport, politics and social class in South Africa during the first century of British colonial rule by means of a case study outlining the as yet largely unknown early history of African cricket in South Africa. The first Africans to be subjected to British rule and become influenced by British values and customs were the Xhosa-speaking people living in the present-day Eastern Cape. The political system of the Cape provided an outlet for these aspirations as the constitution promulgated in 1853 made no colour distinction. A qualified, non-racial franchise was instituted. Sport was an integral part of this whole process of assimilation and mobilization. The development of sport in the 1880s was an integral part of the wider process of African political mobilization that was occurring in the Eastern Cape at the same time.
