ABSTRACT
For 15 years, Tony Suze was a political prisoner on South Africa’s notorious Robben Island. He was one of the driving forces behind a campaign to obtain the right to play football (soccer) and he helped to create an organized league that met all the requirements of FIFA, the international governing body for the sport. Football was much more than just a game for the prisoners – it was one of the ways in which they confirmed their dignity as individuals and asserted their right to run at least a part of their lives despite the brutal conditions of the prison. It was a way they trained themselves to participate in governing South Africa and it was one of the few times they could enjoy something they did on the Island. Tony’s first time outside of South Africa (a conference in Toronto) gave him the opportunity to give a personal account of how sport on Robben Island helped pave the way to the creation of a free, democratic, and non-racist South Africa.
