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ABSTRACT
Apartheid South Africa remains an important theme in sport history. The study of South African football has produced a handful of monographs and several research articles. In this body of literature, relatively few studies acknowledge the migratory flows of South African footballers to various levels of British football. Often omitted altogether in these studies is the acknowledgment of the hundreds of British players, coaches, and referees who visited South Africa after the introduction of apartheid in 1948. Many of these football migrants moved to the country for employment opportunities and played the game on a recreational and professional basis. Significant numbers also migrated because of the football opportunities offered in the segregated game. Some of these migrants were involved in the burgeoning black and non-racial game in the country too. From the mid-1950s through to the 1980s, hundreds of British football migrants made South Africa their home for varying lengths of time. In many cases, despite the broader socio-political context, this was too good of a financial opportunity to turn down. To appreciate the complexities of apartheid football, cognizance of the British contribution to upholding, challenging, and overcoming the status quo in South African football is necessary.
Acknowledgement
The author thanks the anonymous reviewers for the constructive comments and suggestions and Dil Porter who commented on an earlier draft of this paper.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 The author acknowledges ‘race’ is a social construction used in apartheid and post-apartheid South Africa. The term ‘black’ is used to include all those oppressed under apartheid due to their ‘race’. The terms white, black, coloured, and Indian are only used where historically appropriate and are not an endorsement by the author.
2 Ronald Scott, ‘Last of the Aristocrats … or Another Fallen Idol?’, Sunday Times, June 2, 1974, 19.
3 See for example Chris Bolsmann, ‘“Heading for the Big Time” South Africans and the North American Soccer League, 1968–84’, Journal of Sport History 47, no. 3 (2020): 210–25 and Chris Bolsmann, ‘Flouting Apartheid Rules: Stanley Matthews and South African Football, 1955–1988’, South African Historical Journal 73, no. 2 (2021): 494–514.
4 Tony Mason, ‘Some Englishmen and Scotsmen Abroad: The Spread of World Football’, in Off the Ball: The Football World Cup, ed. Alan Tomlinson and Gary Whannel (London: Pluto Press, 1986); John Bale and Joseph Maguire, eds., The Global Sports Arena: Athletic Talent Migration in an Independent World (London: Frank Cass, 1994); Todd Cleveland, Following the Ball: The Migration of African Soccer Players Across the Portuguese Colonial Empire, 1949–1975 (Athens: Ohio University Press, 2017); Paul Darby, James Esson, and Christian Ungruhe, African Football Migration: Aspirations, Experiences and Trajectories (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2022); Pierre Lanfranchi and Matthew Taylor, Moving with the Ball: The Migration of Professional Footballer (Oxford: Berg, 2001); Matthew Taylor, ‘Football’s Engineers? British Football Coaches, Migration and Intercultural Transfer, c.1910–c.1950s’, Sport in History 30, no. 1 (2010): 138–63 and Matthew Taylor, ‘Global Players? Football, Migration and Globalization, c. 1930–2000’, Historical Social Research / Historische Sozialforschung 31, no. 1, 115 (2006): 7–30.
5 Richard Lapchick, The Politics of Race and International Sport: The Case of South Africa (Westport: Greenwood, 1975); Peter Hain, Don’t Play with Apartheid: Background to the Stop the Seventy Tour Campaign (London: George Allen and Unwin, 1971); Robert Archer and Antoine Bouillon, The South African Game (London: Zed, 1982); John Nauright, Sport, Cultures and Identity in South Africa (London: Leicester University Press, 1997) and Douglas Booth, The Race Game: Sport and Politics in South Africa (London: Frank Cass, 1998).
6 Sally Peberdy, Selecting Immigrants: National Identity and South Africa’s Immigration Policies 1910–1908 (Johannesburg: Wits University Press, 2009), 11.
7 Peberdy, Selecting Immigrants, 12.
8 See Henry Dee, ‘Central African Immigrants, Imperial Citizenship and the Politics of Free Movement in Interwar South Africa’, Journal of Southern African Studies 46, no. 2 (2020): 319–37.
9 Peberdy, Selecting Immigrants, 54.
10 Barbara Henkes, ‘Shifting Identifications in Dutch-South African Migration Policies (1910–1961)’, South African Historical Journal 68, no. 4 (2016): 641–69 and Peberdy, Selecting Immigrants, 54.
11 Jean P. Smith, ‘“Transformation to Paradise”: Wartime Travel to Southern Africa, Race and the Discourse of Opportunity, 1939–50’, Twentieth Century British History 26, no. 1 (2015): 52–73.
12 Peberdy, Selecting Immigrants, 87.
13 Quoted in Peberdy, Selecting Immigrants, 109.
14 See: Clive Glaser, ‘Home, Farm and Shop: The Migration of Madeiran Women to South Africa, 1900–1980’, Journal of Southern African Studies 38, no. 4 (2012): 885–97; Clive Glaser, ‘White But Illegal: Undocumented Madeiran Immigration to South Africa, 1920s–1970s’, Immigrants & Minorities 31, no. 1 (2013): 74–98; Georgios Katoleon and André Wessels, ‘Bloemfontein’s Greek Community: Historical Background, Emigration and Settlement, ca 1885–1985’, South African Journal for Cultural History 23, no. 2 (2009): 19–37; Pedro Machado, ‘Little Madeira: The Portuguese in Woodstock c1940–1982’ (Honours Degree Department of History, University of Cape Town, 1992) and Evangelos Anastasios Mantzaris, ‘Class and Ethnicity: The Politics and Ideologies of the Greek Community in South Africa, Circa 1890–1924’ (PhD Department of Sociology, University of Cape Town, 1982).
15 Peberdy, Selecting Immigrants, 122. See also Jean Smith, Settlers at the End of Empire: Race and Politics of Migration in South Africa, Rhodesia and the United Kingdom (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2022).
16 See John Lambert, ‘“An Unknown People”: Reconstructing British South African Identity’, The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History 37, no. 4 (2009): 599–617; John Lambert, ‘Maintaining a British Way of Life: English Speaking South African’s Patriotic, Cultural and Charitable Associations’, Historia 54, no. 2 (2009): 55–76; John Lambert, ‘South African British? Or Dominion South Africans? The Evolution of an Identity in the 1910s and 1920s’, South African Historical Journal 43, no. 1 (2000):197–222; John M. MacKenzie with Nigel R. Dalziel, The Scots in South Africa: Ethnicity, Identity, Gender and Race, 1772–1914 (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2007).
17 Western Province Football Association Handbook (1904) in author’s possession.
18 See Jimmy Seed, The Jimmy Seed Story (London: Phoenix Sports Books, 1957) and Eddie Firmani, Football with Millionaires (London: Stanley Paul, 1959).
19 Taylor, Global Players, 25.
20 Vivian Granger, The World Game Comes to South Africa (Cape Town: Howard Timms, 1961), 8–10.
21 For a discussion of Matthews’ visits to South Africa see Bolsmann, ‘Flouting Apartheid Rules’.
22 ‘Coaching Appointment in South Africa’, FA News, November 1955. Thank you to Dr Alex Jackson of the National Football Museum for supplying this reference.
23 Natal Daily News, November 7, 1955, and Topper Brown, More Kicks than Ha’Pence (Durban: C.G. Brown, n.d.).
24 Transcript of Meeting between FIFA and SASF, Johannesburg, January 1956. FIFA Archives, Zurich; ‘A.J. Kajee Federation Trophy S.A. Indians vs S.A. Blacks Souvenir Program’, July 22, 1956. FIFA Archives, Zurich and Topper Brown, ‘There’s Only One Way to Beat the Ban’, South African Soccer Monthly, September, 1972, 24.
25 Peter Alegi, Laduma! Soccer, Politics and Society in South Africa (Scottsville: University of KwaZulu Natal Press, 2004), 102 and ‘Topper Brown’s New Soccer System Makes Game More Exciting’, World, January 18, 1956, 11.
26 Eric Litchfield, ‘“Topper” Brown Builds His Little “Arsenal”’, Sunday Times, May 20, 1956, 24. E-mail correspondence with Andy Kelly, (www.thearsenalhistory.com) August 18, 2022, confirmed C. Brown was never a professional for Arsenal and played a ‘handful’ of games for the second and third teams in 1931/32 and 1932/33.
27 Vivian Granger, The World Game Comes to South Africa. (Howard Timms: Cape Town, 1961), 108.
28 ‘Big Overseas Search is on’, South African Footballer, October 15, 1960, 6.
29 ‘Durban United look to South Africans playing in U.K.’, South African Footballer, March 21, 1961, 3.
30 Rory Smith, Mister the Men Who Gave the World the Game. (Simon & Schuster: London, 2016).
31 Eric Litchfield, Eric Litchfield’s Book of Soccer (Johannesburg: Hugh Keartland, 1965), 44.
32 Arthur Goldman, Dave Miller, and Hessel Joffe, S.A. Book of Soccer 1966 (Johannesburg: D. S. Saunders, 1966), 26.
33 Ibid., 66.
34 Keith Blackburn, ‘I Find South Africa Wonderful’, South African Soccer Monthly, July 1964, 6. Most NFL clubs had relatively large black supporters’ groups. These groups sat in segregated parts of the stadium often with large fences surrounding them. They had active supporters’ groups and Durban City was known for its large Indian support.
35 Reg Wright, ‘Imports and Exports: Overseas Players Improving our Standard’, South African Soccer Monthly, July 1964, 12.
36 H. Rice, ‘We Cannot “Go It” Alone … ’, South African Soccer Monthly, June 1965, 24.
37 Reg Wright, ‘Dirty Play by Some of our New Arrivals’, South African Soccer Monthly, April 1965, 2.
38 Danny Blanchflower, ‘Importing Players is a Reckless Fashion’, South African Footballer, August 27, 1965, 5.
39 Reg Wright, ‘Callies Motion Dumped!’, South African Soccer Monthly, July 1965, 4.
40 S.A. Book of Soccer 1967 (Johannesburg: D.S. Saunders. 1967), 9.
41 Ibid.
42 Eric Litchfield, Cape Town City: The Story of Our Famous Club (Cape Town: Howard Timms, 1972), 79.
43 Roger Hugo interview with author, March 20, 2013.
44 Vernon Woods, ‘Port Elizabeth City: A Team of Outsiders’, S.A. Book of Soccer 1969 (Johannesburg: D. S. Saunders), 21.
45 Vernon Woods, S.A. Book of Soccer, 1971 (Johannesburg: D. S. Saunders, 1971), 13.
46 Vernon Woods, S. A. Book of Soccer, 1968 (Johannesburg: D. S. Saunders, 1968), 7.
47 Reg Wright, 1972. Here is a Favour to Ask to Frank Waring’, Sunday Express, May 7, 1972, 21.
48 F.W. Waring, letter to P.W. Botha, May 9, 1972. Sport and Recreation General Correspondence NS 6/5/20 National Archives Repository, Pretoria.
49 Alegi, Laduma!, 118.
50 ‘Why Shouldn’t We Start Our Own Pro Soccer?’ Drum, August 1959, 21.
51 Peter Alegi, ‘Football and Apartheid Society: The South African Soccer League, 1960–1966’, in Gary Armstrong and Richard Giulianotti, Football in Africa: Conflict, Conciliation and Community (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004).
52 ‘Pro Soccer Banned’, World, May 20, 1961, and ‘League Soccer Games Moved to New Venue’, World, May 27, 1961, 11.
53 ‘New Pro League’, World, November 18, 1961, 1; ‘Mzizi hits back at Detractors of Transvaal’s New League’, Rand Daily Mail, December 6, 1961, 24 and George Thabe, ed., It’s a Goal! 50 Years of Sweat, Tears and Drama in Black Soccer (Johannesburg: Skotaville Publishers, 1983).
54 Leslie Sehume, ‘SA Breweries Fillip to African League’, World, November 11, 1961, 11.
55 ‘New League Given More Grounds’, World, November 25, 1961, 17 and ‘NPSL Chief Angry at League’s Suspension’, Rand Daily Mail, March 25, 1965, 11.
56 Joe Thloloe, ‘Black Pirates were Great in Defeat at Maseru’, World, February 26, 1962, 8 and The Star, February 26, 1962.
57 Halemakale Motsoene, ‘The Story of “Black Pirates”’, Soccerite Personality, June 1964, 4 and Richard Maguire, ‘“The People’s Club”’: A Social and Institutional History of Orlando Pirates Football Club, 1937–1973’ (BA Honours Thesis University of the Witwatersrand, 1991).
58 ‘Multi-Racial XI Players are Charged’, World, May 8, 1962, 2.
59 ‘National League to be Formed’, World, December 23, 1961.
60 See ‘The National Professional Soccer League versus The S.A. Bantu Football Ass’. File M849/65 National Archives Repository, Pretoria.
61 ‘Shock for Airborne Clubs’, Post, November 19, 1967.
62 Alegi, Laduma!, 139.
63 Joe Latakomo, ‘Bucs Win First Prize – Then Announce they are Leaving the NPSL’, World, April 28, 1969, 7.
64 Desmond Blow, ‘“Mixed” Boxing Ban on Border’, Sunday Times, August 24, 1969, 2; ‘Morolo’s Move Shocks Fans’, World, August 25, 1969, 1 and Memorandum ‘Difficulties in the Unification and Control of Bantu Association Football’ South African Bantu Football Association September 21, 1969. Beoefening van Sokker as Sportsoort Deur en Onder Die Bantoe 8/6. National Archives Repository, Pretoria.
65 ‘League Boss to Ask Why’, Rand Daily Mail, August 19, 1969, 3.
66 See Peter Alegi and Chris Bolsmann, ‘From Apartheid to Unity: White Capital and Black Power in the Racial Integration of South African Football, 1976–1992’, African Historical Review 42, no. 1 (2010): 1–18.
67 Alegi, Laduma!, 138.
68 Archer and Bouillon, The South African Game, 210 and Gustav Venter, ‘Experimental Tactics on an Uneven Playing Field: Multinational Football and the Apartheid Project during the 1970s’, The International Journal of the History of Sport 36 (2019): 83–103.
69 ‘Where Have All the Players Gone?’, Rand Daily Mail, November 6, 1972, 7.
70 Derrick Thema, ‘Tony Fooled Us – Mposula’, Sharpshoot Soccer, September 1975, 10.
71 Neilson N. Kaufman and Eddie Lewis, The Eddie Lewis Story: From Manchester to Soweto (Derbyshire: Derwent Press, 2008) and ‘Eddie Lewis … New Hero of the NPSL’ 1974, Sharpshoot/Soccer Weekly, November 8, 1974, 13.
72 Eddie Lewis interview with Marc Fletcher, April 21, 2009. See also Tony McDonald, The Untold Story of the O's Best-ever Team, (Soccer World: Hornchurch, 2006).
73 Roland Scott, ‘Meet the Big Chief’, Sunday Times, October 27, 1974, 21.
74 Michael Marnewick, Coach: The Life and Soccer Times of Clive Barker (Auckland Park: Jacana, 2018).
75 Alegi, Laduma!, 122.
76 Michael Ndlovu, ‘New Amazulu Coach’, African Soccer Mirror, August 1975, 24.
77 Theo Mthembu, ‘FIFA Can’t Stop Mini-Tests’, Sunday Times, July 15, 1973, 28.
78 Eric Litchfield, ‘Matthews Wants Peterson at Blackpool’, Rand Daily Mail, May 30, 1955.
79 ‘Sir Stan Accepts’, Rand Daily Mail, February 19, 1972, 21.
80 ‘Watch for Sir Stan’s Men!’, Sunday Times, September 1973, 16–17.
81 Eddie Oakes, ‘It’s On’, Sunday Times, June 10, 1973, 27.
82 Dave Marais, ‘Something Different’, British Stars versus S.A. Born Life XL Souvenir Programme. June 30, 1973.
83 Martin Hime, ‘British Stars vs SA Black XI’ letter to M.E. Cook, Foreign Office. July 10, 1973. FCO 45/1429. National Archives, Kew.
84 ‘The British Tour was a Great Success!’, South African Soccer Weekly, July 12, 1973, 10.
85 James Hawthorn, ‘I Was Proud of Our Black Boks’, Rand Daily Mail, July 10, 1973, 1 and Eddie Oakes, ‘Allison Through the Looking Glass’, Sunday Times, July 8, 1973, 23.
86 Danny Blanchflower, ‘We Must Be “More Professional”’ quoted in South African Soccer Weekly, 1973, 18.
87 The Football Association, Minutes of a Meeting of the Council, July 17, 1982. National Football Museum, Preston and Ian Hobbs, ‘FA Probes Fun ‘n Sun Tour’, Sunday Times, July 15, 1973, 27.
88 Jeff Powell, Booby Moore: The Life and Times of a Sporting Hero (London: Robson Books, 2002).
89 Quoted in Chris Bolsmann, ‘White Football in South Africa: Empire, Apartheid and Change, 1892–1977’, in South Africa and the Global Game: Football, Apartheid and Beyond, ed. Peter Alegi and Chris Bolsmann (London: Routledge, 2010).
90 South African Soccer Weekly, March 29, 1973.
91 Ibid., 3.
92 Ed Gray, ‘SA Games Could Lead to Bigger Things’, South African Soccer Weekly, March 22, 1973, 3.
93 Minutes, FASA Annual General Meeting, March 10, 1973, 2, Football Association of South Africa (FASA) papers, 1892–1992: Collection AG3365 of the Historical Papers Research Archive at the William Cullen Library, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.
94 Budgie Byrne, ‘Multi-Racial Soccer or no FIFA’, South African Soccer Weekly, July 18, 1974, 5.
95 Sy Lerman, ‘Elliott: Sono is Worth R20000’, Rand Daily Mail, April 19, 1974, 32.
96 Ibid.
97 South African Soccer Weekly, 8 August 1974, 23.
98 ‘Opinion’ 1974. Sharpshoot Soccer Weekly, October 25, 1974, 3.
99 Budgie Byrne, ‘This News is Simply Terrific’, Sharpshoot Soccer Weekly, October 25, 1974, 25.
100 Mike Bradbury and John ‘Budgie’ Byrne, Balls (Durban: Richard Lyon, 1976). For a useful analysis of the tournament, see Venter, ‘Experimental Tactics’.
101 Don Macey interview with author February 28, 2013.
102 Sy Lerman, ‘Mix Teams, Says Top Ref’, Rand Daily Mail, April 14, 1975, 1.
103 Ibid.
104 Quoted in Gustav Venter, ‘Slippery Under Foot: The Shifting Political Dynamics within South African Football, 1973–1976’, South African Historical Journal 69, no. 2 (2017): 277.
105 Ibid., 276 fn. 65.
106 Michael Ndlovu, ‘The Multi-Racial Dream’, African Soccer Mirror, May 1976, 18.
107 Amos Mngoma, ‘South African Soccer’s Greatest Day – Unbelievable’, African Soccer Mirror, April 1976, 3.
108 FASA letter D.M. Zagnoev to Dr P.J. Koornhof, 26 November 1975, FIFA Feite-Insamelingskomitee, MS 6/5/20, National Archives Repository, Pretoria.
109 H. Snoyman ‘Sir Stan’s FIFA Appeal’, Rand Daily Mail, 14 July 1976, 26 and ‘Great World Star Appeals To FIFA: Test South Africa’s Sincerity’ Football Association of South Africa (FASA) papers, 1892–1992: Collection AG3365 of the Historical Papers Research Archive at the William Cullen Library, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.
110 Minutes of the Meeting, International Relations Sub-Committee of the English Football Association, December 22, 1975. National Football Museum, Preston.
111 ‘Federation Wins Over Blacks and Whites’, African Soccer Mirror, May 1977, 24–25.
112 Archer and Bouillon, The South African Game, 295.
113 Sy Lerman, ‘Eusebio opts for Federation debut and Leaves NPSL Seething’, Rand Daily Mail, March 16, 1978, 18.
114 Sy Lerman, ‘Charlton’s Men Look Fit’, Rand Daily Mail, July 4, 1979, 28.
115 Sy Lerman, ‘Toy and Kaizer Plot American Connection’, Rand Daily Mail, July 17, 1979, 30.
116 John Dunn and Louis Mazibuko, ‘Soccer Boycott Fizzles Out’, Sunday Times, June 24, 1979, 11.
117 Sy Lerman, ‘Transvaal Squad a “Form Team”’, Rand Daily Mail, June 27, 1979, 28.
118 ‘FCSA will speak to FIFA on Tours’, Rand Daily Mail, May 4, 1981, 23.
119 Sy Lerman, ‘Door is Shut on British Tour’, Rand Daily Mail, May 13, 1981, 24.
120 Minutes, FASA Meeting, August 3, 1983, 2, Football Association of South Africa (FASA) papers, 1892–1992: Collection AG3365 of the Historical Papers Research Archive at the William Cullen Library, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg; Harold Pongolo, ‘Public Owed and Explanation about Controversial Tour’, Rand Daily Mail, July 14, 1982, 3 and Jeff Masekwamemngs, ‘What Went Wrong George?’, South African Soccer, September 1982, 25.
121 Ewan Flynn, ‘The Rebels: The Chaotic Attempts to Break Sanctions and Arrange a Tour to South Africa in 1982’, The Blizzard 40 (2021): 34–45.
122 Clyde Best does not mention this tour in his 2019 autobiography The Acid Test: The Autobiography of Clyde Best. Liverpool: deCoubertin Books.
123 Harold Pongolo, ‘Thabe and Sponsors Attacked for Organising International Tour’, Rand Daily Mail, July 18, 1983, 24.
124 Chris Olckers and Anne Sacks, ‘Disappointed Crowd Jeer “Mercenaries”’, Rand Daily Mail, July 19, 1982, 20.
125 Bolsmann, ‘“Heading for the Big Time”’.
126 Flynn, The Rebels, 43 and Sy Lerman, ‘Thabe and Motaung in SA “Watergate”’, Rand Daily Mail, July 23, 1983, 24.
127 Sy Lerman, ‘Stab in the Back for SA Soccer?’, Rand Daily Mail, July 19, 1982, 20.
128 Sy Lerman, ‘Tour Ends as Thabe Concedes Defeat?’, Rand Daily Mail, July 21, 1982, 20.
129 ‘Soccer Safari’ Football Programme, June 1983. Swaziland, in author’s possession.
130 John Dunn, ‘Borderline View of SA!’, Sunday Times, June 5, 1983, 41.
131 Stan Lapot interview with author, February 20, 2013 and Chris Chilton, ‘Chillo’ My Life Story (Hull: Chris Chilton, 2004), 139.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Chris Bolsmann
Bolsmann is a South African sociologist concerned with issues of race and class in sports historiography.