ABSTRACT
This chapter attempts to situate Colored sporting cultures into broader historiographies of race, gender, and sports by demonstrating that conceptions of masculinity expressed through competition transcended racial boundaries and appealed to Colored men in ways similar to White men. It argues that omission by illustrating how Colored athletes and fans perceived themselves as part of South African and global sporting cultures. Sporting cultures provided contexts in which South African men judged their peers in terms of physicality, competitive worthiness, fair play, and commitment to task and team. Sports also provided important spaces for men to develop close fraternal bonds. Colored sportsmen recognized the immense importance White South Africans placed on sporting culture as a means of inculcating masculinity, citizenship, and respectability among their boys and young men. Colored men shared those values and hoped to convince Whites to accept their commonalities. The chapter discusses a Coloured South African team competing at the Olympic Games.
