‘An Americanised issue with no place in South Africa?’ – rodeo sports, muscular and cultural identity and animal rights in urban South Africa

Abstract

Prior to 1980, rodeo events in South Africa were either organised as entrepreneurial ventures or as public displays for their spectacle value. With the establishment of the Rodeo Association of South Africa (RASA) in 1979 and the hosting of its inaugural event on 1 January 1980 in the city of Vanderbijlpark, rodeo in South Africa officially became a sport, and a new era was inaugurated. In 2003 the Working Cowboys Association (WCA), an organisation which combined work and horse and cattle sport, was established, and in 2005 the South African Professional Rodeo Cowboy Association (SAPRCA) was founded. In contrast to its predecessors, one of the SAPRCA's key objectives is to work towards the selection of a national team to compete on the international circuit. All of the former bodies operated and continue to operate from a largely urban base and they have attracted a predominantly white audience. In the recent past, the presence of politically inspired Afrikaner symbols and public broadcast of poetry of the late Eugène Terre’blanche, a prominent right-wing leader, along with the provision of a public platform for Afrikaner-interest organisations such as Afriforum ‘saddled’ the sport with various social functions in the post-apartheid environment. This article, in addition to broadly tracing the emergence, growth and contestation of rodeo as an increasingly urban sport in South Africa, also reflects on the social functions of rodeo within the local context based as understood from the public pronouncements of its fans, participants and opponents.

Keywords:

• rodeo sport
• South Africa
• Afrikaner
• masculinity
• identity

Notes

1. The title of this article is derived from statements made by Marcelle Meredith of the South African National Council of Societies for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (NCSPCA) in the course of their fight against rodeo sport. See the article by Sheena Adams, ‘NSPCA Court Battle to Rein in “Cowboys”’. IOL News (7 May 2007), http://www.iol.co.za/new/south-africa/npsca-court-battle-to-rein-in-cowboys-1.351734? (accessed November 29, 2010).

2. In saddle bronc, cowboys ride a fully saddled wild horse, whilst bareback riding refers to riding an unsaddled semi-wild and untamed horse. The Professional Rodeo Cowboy Associations (PRCA) is the most dominant body in the world and chapters are to be found all over the world, including in South Africa. See Theodori, ‘An Overview of Contemporary American Rodeo’.

3. Larson, ‘Rodeo is Cruel Entertainment’, 116.

4. Kelm, ‘Manly Contests: Rodeo Masculinities’, 711.

5. Pearson and Haney, ‘The Rodeo Cowboy: Cultural Icon’, 308.

6. Barlow, ‘Cowboys of the Lost Continent’. Website designed by Lee Raine (last revision 3 August 2011), online: http://www.cowboyshowcase.com/cowboys_of_the_lost_continent.htm (accessed November 29 2010). Namibia, as far as could be ascertained, is still the only other African country where rodeos are presented – mainly as part of agricultural shows for its spectacular value.

7. Hook and Vrdoljak, ‘From Power to Power’, 5.

8. Cornelissen, ‘Prologue – Sport Past and Present’, 7.

9. Nauright, ‘Epilogue: Making New Histories’, 181.

10. O’Connor, ‘History in Images/Images in History’, 1200.

11. Natal Argief Bewaarplek (NAB): PVS 21: 130/1903; Victor, Wild West Show, Harrismith: Asks for Permit to bring two dogs into Natal.

12. Transvaal Argief Bewaarplek (Transvaal Archives Repository, forthwith TAB), 000/00: LTG 99: 98/39, 1905.

13. Theodori, ‘An Overview of Contemporary American Rodeo’, 196.

14. National Film Archives (forthwith NFA), FA 872 Nuus van Orals, No.20, 1943; Killarney Film Produksies.

15. Central Archives Repository (Sentrale Argiefbewaarplek) (forthwith SAB): DCD 424: 12/3/3: Beplanning. Rasse Aangeleenthede: Gemengde Gehore by Vermaaklikhede: Aansoeke om Permitte: The All American Rodeo, 1966.

16. National Film Archives (NFA), FA 1570 S.A. Mirror/Spieel, No. 4, 1969, Killarney Film Produksies.

17. Central Archives Repository (Sentrale Argiefbewaarplek) (forthwith SAB): DCD 424: 12/3/3: Beplanning. Rasse Aangeleenthede: Gemengde Gehore by Vermaaklikhede: Aansoeke om Permitte: The All American Rodeo, 1966.

18. Peñaloza, ‘Consuming the American West’, 369.

19. Nixon, ‘Apartheid on the Run’, 75.

20. National Film Archives (NFA), FA 177 S.A. Mirror/Spieel, No. 258, 1973, Killarney Film Produksies.

21. Personal Communication, Ernie de Bruin, Thursday 19 January 2011.

22. Booth, ‘South Africa’s “Autonomous Sport Strategy”’, 156.

23. Booth, ‘Accommodating Race to Play the Game’, 184.

24. Peñaloza. ‘Consuming the American West’, 369

25. Barlow. ‘Cowboys of the Lost Continent’, op. cit.

26. Ibid.

27. Eben Human, Die Burger, October 5 2010.

28. Hennie Basson, Landbouweekblad, May 7 2010.

29. Stella Beesfees, ‘Geskiedenis’, http://www.stellabeesfees.co.za/geskiedenis.htm (accessed January 20 2011).

30  ‘Die langste agt sekondes’, Die Burger, ‘Die langste agt sekondes’, February 23 2011.

31. De Boeck, Cassiman and Van Wolputte, ‘Recentering the City’, 2.

32. Theodori, ‘Campus Cowboys and Cowgirls’, 134–5.

33. Davis, ‘Eight Seconds: Style, Performance’, 155.

34. Coetzee, Rapport, October 23, 2011.

35. Theodori, ‘Campus Cowboys and Cowgirls’, 135.

36. Brandt, ‘A Language of Their Own’, 312.

37. Davis, ‘Eight Seconds: Style, Performance’, 152.

38. Basson, Landbouweekblad, December 10, 2010.

39. Wolch, ‘Anima Urbis’, 722.

40. Lynn, ‘Animals, Ethics and Geography’, 283.

41. Nibert, ‘Animals Rights and Human Social Issues’, 122; Kruse, ‘Gender, Views of Nature’, 184.

42. Horsetalk, ‘Charges to Follow Broken Leg in Rodeo Horse’, May 31, 2011.

43. Adams. ‘NSPCA Court Battle to Rein in Cowboys’, op. cit.

44. Basson, ‘Eerste rodeo vir Hoefslagfees’, op. cit.

45. Youens, ‘Animal Rights: A Moral and Legal Discussion’, 28.

46. Adams. ‘NSPCA Court Battle to Rein in “Cowboys”’, op. cit.

47. Van der Watt, ‘Images of Men and Masculinities’, 104.

48. Herman, ‘Jacob Zuma and the Minority Groups’, 12.

49. Van der Watt, ‘Images of Men and Masculinities’, 93.

50. Harris, ‘(Re)Presenting Wales: National Identity’, 7.

51. Connell, ‘The Social Organization of Masculinity’, 41.

52. Adair, ‘Book Review: John Nauright and Timothy Chandler’, 170.

53. Coetzee, ‘Hoe wilder hoe beter’, op. cit.

54. Stoeltje, ‘Power and the Ritual Genres’, 135.

55. Swart, ‘Race horses – a Discussion of Horses’, 16

56. Ibid., 15

57. Harris, ‘(Re)Presenting Wales: National Identity’, 1.

58. Coetzee, ‘Hoe wilder hoe beter’, op. cit.

59. Van der Merwe, Beeld, November 27, 2010.

60. Molatlhwa, Sowetan, May 9, 2011).

61. South African Press Association, , Independent On-Line, June 22, 2011.

62. Herman, ‘Jacob Zuma and the Minority Groups’, 14.

63. Van der Merwe, ‘Dis Brahmaan se kind daai, Pappa!’, op. cit.

64. Basson, Beeld, October 5, 2010.

65. Van der Merwe, ‘Dis Brahmaan se kind daai, Pappa!’, op. cit.

66. Coetzee, ‘Hoe wilder hoe beter’, op. cit.

67. Swart, ‘Race horses – a Discussion of Horses’, 22.

68. Kruse, ‘Gender, Views of Nature’, 195.

69. Adams. ‘NSPCA Court Battle to Rein in “Cowboys”’, op. cit.

70. Die Burger, ‘Die langste agt sekondes’, February 23, 2011.

71. Basson, ‘Jongeling is kampioen-cowboy’, op. cit.

72. Van der Merwe, ‘Dis Brahmaan se kind daai, Pappa!’, op. cit.

73. Basson, ‘Eerste rodeo vir Hoefslagfees’, op. cit.