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Fútbology

Beyond Master Narratives: Local Sources and Global Perspectives on Sport, Apartheid, and Liberation

Alegi speaking at Penn StateMy article “Beyond Master Narratives: Local Sources and Global Perspectives on Sport, Apartheid, and Liberation” has just been published in The International Journal of the History of Sport (2020).

 

This article is a revised and peer-reviewed version of a 2019 keynote address I delivered at the “Global Histories: Sport and Apartheid South Africa” symposium at Penn State University.

 


 

Abstract

 

Drawing mainly on a set of oral and written primary sources situated in their proper historical and geographical context, this article explores how multiple forms of agency and memory shaped the history of sport, apartheid and liberation in South Africa. In doing so, it argues that a new revisionist history is needed in order to problematize the entrenched ‘master narrative’ of South African sport history, which privileges national redemption and patriotic heroism at the expense of more complex individual, local and global dynamics. The article concludes with suggestions for future research directions in order to assist a process of decolonizing sport history in South Africa.

 

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/09523367.2020.1773434

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Video

Umhlaba Podcast #2: Soccer and Education in South Africa, Zimbabwe, and USA

Men in a recording studioFrom left: Boyzzz Khumalo, Tendai Jirira, Peter Alegi, Tumi Moshobane, Lesedi Mosielele


 

 

The second episode of the Umhlaba Podcast, a program about sports and education in Africa and America, has been released! [Click here for free download.]

 

In this episode, Umhlaba Vision Foundation founder Boyzzz Khumalo and I conduct a wide-ranging interview with South African midfielder Tumi Moshobane of Lansing Ignite and Zimbabwean defender Tendai Jirira of Detroit City FC.

 

The young men shed light on growing up playing soccer in youth academies and school teams in South Africa and Zimbabwe and tell us about their experiences pursuing professional soccer careers in the United States.

 

The conversation highlights the crucial role of education in ensuring long-term success as well as the value of healthy lifestyles, personal discipline, and giving back to the community by helping disadvantaged boys and girls have better opportunities in sports and education.

 

Aspiring South African coach Lesedi Mosielele joins the discussion towards the end, and eloquently states that Moshobane and Jirira are inspirational role models for many Africans dreaming of overseas success, on and off the pitch.

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Players

Hamba kahle, Luyanda

By Liz Timbs and Peter Alegi

Luyanda Ntshangase playing for Maritzburg United

Tragically, on May 4, 2018, 21-year-old striker Luyanda Ntshangase passed away, two months after being struck by lightning during a Maritzburg United friendly. Football Is Coming Home extends our most heartfelt condolences to the Ntshangase family.

The funeral service will take place at Alan Paton Hall, Maritzburg College, Princess Margaret Drive, Thursday, May 10, at 10am.

Listen to Luyanda’s 2016 interview with Liz Timbs, in which he spoke matter-of-factly and powerfully about what mattered to him most in life and football, his hopes and dreams for the future.



At this time of sadness and grief, it is important to hear his passion, focus, and dedication to the game. Not only have Pietermaritzburg and South Africa lost a talented striker, but also a young man of great character and boundless promise.

Hamba kahle, Luyanda!

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Players

Struggle On, Luyanda Ntshangase

On March 1, 2018, 21-year-old Maritzburg United striker Luyanda Ntshangase was struck by lightning during a friendly match. He is in a medically induced coma and remains in critical, but stable condition. Our thoughts and prayers are with Ntshangase and his family in the hope of a speedy and full recovery.

Luyanda_Ntshangase1

I met Luyanda Ntshangase in 2013 when I began to work with Izichwe Youth Football Club in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. A self-proclaimed “local boy,” Ntshangase was born on January 25, 1997. He was raised in Imbali (Zone 2), an apartheid-era township outside Pietermaritzburg.

Like many South African boys, he began playing football at age six with his friends in the neighborhood. By age eight, he knew that he wanted to play the game for the rest of his life. His parents supported this dream, driving their son to training sessions, watching games, and providing critical support at home.

He joined Izichwe, named after Shaka Zulu’s regiment, in 2012. Though Ntshangase initially struggled to catch up with the other players who had been with Izichwe since 2010, he quickly adjusted and became a cornerstone of the team. He exemplifies everything that Izichwe stands for: “honesty, integrity, working hard, pushing yourself at all times . . . discipline, hard work.”

When I observed practices, Ntshangase stood out for his extraordinary focus and drive. He pushed himself and, by example, inspired his teammates to strive for their best at every training session. This talent and work ethic afforded Ntshangase the opportunity to train with the KZN Football Academy and play a key role for his team in major youth tournaments such as the Nike Manchester United Premier Cup.

Luyanda also excelled in the classroom. The Izichwe coaches’ insistence on educational success made him “realize there is a lot more to life than just football, you know, there is also school–just getting better that side also.” After matriculating from Maritzburg College, a prestigious boys’ secondary school founded in 1863 that counts Alan Paton among its alumni, Nsthangase recently enrolled for a degree in politics at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.

Balancing these responsibilities was “demanding,” he said, quickly adding that “my school and my football go together . . . There’s life after football, you know?” With a maturity well beyond his 21 years, he recognized that “to move anywhere further is to keep on working harder and grow as a person and as a footballer also.”

Ntshangase_Izichwe

This wisdom and dedication was evident in 2016 when Izichwe played a friendly match against Maritzburg United, the local Premier Soccer League team. Ntshangase impressed head coach Ernst Middendorp, who invited him to train with his team. After a week-long training with the team, Middendorp contacted Thabo Dladla, Ntshangase’s coach at Izichwe, with the news that he wanted to offer the young striker a professional contract.

In February 2017, Ntshangase was selected for South Africa’s Under-20 national team (AmaJita). Upon receiving the news, he told the Maritzburg Fever: “I’m going to take that chance and grab it with both hands and show what I’m capable of and why I was selected. So if that opportunity comes for me–I’ll be very thankful,” he said.

Ntshangase_MBUTD

Speaking with Luyanda just a few months into his professional career, he exuded joy and certainty that there was still more to come at Maritzburg United. “[I’m] having [the] time of my life at the moment . . . it’s just the first step for me,” he said.

“I’m looking forward to building on, something bigger, better. It’s something I’ve always dreamed of [. . .]” Ntshangase continued. “I see myself in a few years being somewhere further than where I am now. It could be at another team. It could be at the same place but in a different role . . . but obviously I possibly wish to be at a bigger club or even overseas, you know? That’s where we all dream of going. So if I reach that goal that’s something I’d be very much proud of.”


Update: Tragically, on May 4, 2018, Luyanda passed away. Our heartfelt condolences to the Ntshangase family. May his soul rest in peace. The funeral service will take place at Alan Paton Hall, Maritzburg College, Princess Margaret Drive, Thursday, May 10, 10am.

Categories
Players

South African Soccer NGO in the Spotlight

uvf12

Kabelo “KB” Mashinini, Thabiso “Boyzzz” Khumalo and Thabang “Cosmos” Matsoko are the heart and soul of the Umhlaba Vision Foundation (UVF) in South Africa. In a recent piece published in the Huffington Post, the three men discuss their nonprofit organization that since 2007 has provided local boys with overseas educational experiences through soccer.

“Hailing from the Meadowlands section of Soweto, Mashinini, Khumalo and Matsoko have impacted their community and country significantly over the last decade,” the article states.  “What we’re doing,” says Michigan-based Khumalo, “is bringing talented student-athletes here to go to school and then when they do good in soccer and in school, they get two opportunities.”

“Because most of these kids are like me, where I only depended on soccer, and if soccer didn’t work, I hadn’t considered what else I’d do,” Khumalo said, “I decided to create the foundation to help the kids of South Africa and make my contribution to society using something I love and am passionate about.”

UVF has important Michigan connections through Khumalo and sponsors such as Madonna University Athletics, AFC Ann Arbor, Concordia Ann Arbor Athletics, Northville Rush, and Michigan ODP.

Read the full article here.

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Players

Ted Dumitru, innovative coach in South Africa, dies at 76

Ted Dumitru, SAFCA Technical Advisor during the South African Football Coaches Association at SAFA House, Johannesburg on 22 October 2014 ©Muzi Ntombela/BackpagePix
Ted Dumitru at the South African Football Coaches Association, SAFA House, Johannesburg on 22 October 2014 © Muzi Ntombela/BackpagePix

Ted Dumitru, the Romanian-born coach who had a successful career in South Africa, collapsed and died of an apparent heart attack on Thursday at Eastgate Shopping Centre in Johannesburg.

“Throughout our conversations over the years,” recalls Zola Doda in a touching tribute published on Kick Off magazine’s website, “Ted didn’t talk a lot about his country of birth, Romania, which came across as strange to me in the beginning. All he spoke about was South Africa and the African continent as a whole—but over a period time I learned to understand how much he really loved this country and this continent.”

Having coached briefly in the U.S., where he acquired citizenship,  Dumitru took the helm of Zambia’s national team in 1981 and later that of Swaziland. He arrived in apartheid South Africa to coach Kaizer Chiefs in 1986, a time of mass protests and army troops deployed in the black townships. Dumitru went on to win four league titles, with Sundowns (1997-98 and 1998-99) and Chiefs (2003-04 and 2004-05), and also had a brief stint as national team coach.

Beyond his clubs’ successes, Dumitru had a major impact on South African coaching education and on youth development. I saw this personally and tracked it over two decades in South Africa and from overseas.

I first met Ted Dumitru in 1995.  A friend I had met on the soccer pitch at Wits University took me to the South African Football Association’s first coaching certification course held at the School of Excellence. I was introduced to Dumitru, then the Director of Coaching at SAFA, who was dressed in his typical sweatsuit-and-baseball cap attire. As soon as he learned of my work on the history of football in South Africa, he asked me to return the following morning and give a formal presentation to the coaches. Dumitru believed a country needed to know its football history in order to develop its national identity.

The next day I faced an engaged audience that included Patrick Pule “Ace” Ntsoelengoe,  Cedric “Sugar Ray” Xulu,  Neil Tovey and many other legendary figures in the South African game. If that context wasn’t intimidating enough, I was also scheduled to follow the charismatic Clive Barker, then-national team coach who, a few months later, would lead Bafana Bafana to their first (and still only) African Nations Cup title.

Dumitru introduced me in a graciously professional and courteous way, which made me feel less intimidated by the moment and helped set the tone for what turned out to be a constructive session and dialogue among the participants.

During that visit, I learned of Dumitru’s background in Romania in the late 1960s and 1970s. I listened to him discuss the emergence of “scientific football” as popularized by Valeriy Lobanowski, the legendary coach of Dynamo Kiev and the USSR. At the time, it was a pioneering approach. It brought together empirical data, computer technology, Soviet collectivist ideology, and Dutch total football. It transformed the way Dumitru conceived, organized, and managed football teams. As Jonathan Wilson succinctly puts it, “football was less about individuals than about coalitions and the connections between them.”

To his credit, Dumitru’s experiences in southern Africa altered his football philosophy and practice to reflect local conditions. Dumitru passionately believed in the technical proficiency, dynamism, and creativity of local players. He spent much of the latter part of his career teaching both young boys and adult coaches how to draw on these strengths while combining them with aspects of scientific football. In the words of Mark Gleeson, Dumitru became “an outspoken proponent of the establishment of a so-called ‘ South African style of play’ with heavy emphasis on individual flair.”

This emphasis was clearly demonstrated before my eyes again in 2010—a magical year for South Africa as it successfully hosted the first World Cup played on African soil. Dumitru came to Pietermaritzburg to help train local coaches and in the process supervised a training session at the Izichwe Youth Football program, where I was involved. His principles were put into action, as he encouraged each and every player to think about space, quick decision-making, smart passing, confidence in dribbling, relationship with teammates, and to be unafraid of expressing joy on the pitch. When one boy scored a mesmerizing goal but did not celebrate, Dumitru encouraged him to do so: “Soccer is supposed to be fun!” he exclaimed.

Dumitru, of course, had his shortcomings. According to Gleeson, he was perceived by many as “dogmatic” and few can forget his public statement that South Africa’s first-round exit from the 2006 African Nations Cup was partly due to the fact that “my players don’t know how to play in the rain.”

Even so, Dumitru should be remembered as an innovative coach who left an important legacy in South Africa. He introduced new ideas from eastern Europe at a time when the country was isolated from international football and when South African coaching was dominated by English-speaking whites. Dumitru stands out as a rare white coach who genuinely believed in decolonizing South African football. To the end, he practiced what he preached. At the time of his passing, Dumitru was in town to give a speech at the South African Football Coaches’ Association Youth Coaching Seminar at Johannesburg Stadium.

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Players

“To have a football was to have arrived”

Vassen_bookBob Vassen’s passing fills me with immense sadness.

 

A great friend to those of us who had the privilege of knowing him. A courageous South African who fought for the freedom of his country, at home and in exile as a member of Umkhonto weSizwe (The Spear of the Nation). A committed teacher who mentored thousands of students, young and not so young, internationally. An intellectual who was as incisive as he was humble. Consider his masterful editorial work in Ahmed Kathrada’s Letters from Robben Island, published by Michigan State University Press.

 

And Bobby, as his friends called him, was also a football man. Like his father before him, he had played for one of Johannesburg’s oldest teams: Moonlighters FC, founded by Indian service workers in 1892. Growing up in Fordsburg and Doornfontein, gritty working-class neighborhoods in Johannesburg, “to have a football was to have arrived,” he recalled.

 

A few years ago, I had the honor of interviewing him about his football life. You can watch the full interview here.

 

Our heartfelt condolences go out to Ursula and the entire Vassen family. We miss you Uncle Bobby.