ABSTRACT

The aim of the chapter is to evaluate the contribution of the African continent’s involvement in sport to the end of apartheid. It selects three different elements through which to do so. First, it explores the origins of resistance through sport in South Africa itself. Second, the contribution of continental protest is examined, and, third, the chapter briefly explores the role of the front line states in southern Africa to the wider continental struggle against apartheid. The global significance of sport throughout the latter half of the twentieth century ensured that sport became a diplomatic tool of considerable potential, with the international campaign against South Africa perhaps being the best example of its practical utility. The efficacy of the use of sport in “sports diplomacy” is determined through the size and diversity of the audience it reaches. The audience can be divided into three groups: first, one’s own country; second, the targeted country; and third, the rest of the world.