Football mirrors our society. It also has the power to inspire people to achieve. South Africans of all hues support football in one manner or another, from factory workers, to service providers, to children, to neighbours and family members. Due to its global reach and ability to transcend barriers, football is also increasingly used to […]
Sport
Posted inNews/Politics, Sport
IOC: Five rings and no balls. Sochi pity!
Excellence. Friendship. Respect. So whose motto is that? Boy Scouts? Alcoholics Anonymous? Who would guess that these are the watchwords supposedly encapsulating the modern Olympic movement? Actually, says the International Olympic Committee (IOC), it’s not merely a slogan, but the organisation’s ‘life philosophy’. Funny thing that, the gap between imagination and reality. While those three […]
Posted inMedia, News/Politics, Sport
India, cricket and religion = Clickbait 101
I really didn’t want to play the “offended Hindu card” and write about Zaprio’s now infamous Sunday Times Cricket South Africa (CSA) cartoon but after numerous debates I’ve taken the plunge … Zapiro’s cartoon depicts Haroon Lorgat, the suspended CSA chief executive, bound to a sacrificial altar and about to be “steeked” by two CSA […]
Posted inNews/Politics, Sport
The loyalty we have to soccer teams is the same as we have to the ANC
In the past few days I have been asking myself why I get peeved each time I discuss the performance of my dearest club with my fellow Manchester United supporters. Oftentimes I find myself wondering why everyone does not see that David Moyes is technically inept, a minnow and completely out of sync as manager […]
Posted inEquality, Sport
I am a feminist
There, I said it. In public. My friends – one in particular – have been trying to get me to recognise it for a while. Why has it taken me so long? I guess it’s because I’ve never identified with the fierceness and passion with which some women speak on women’s issues. Friends like C, […]
Posted inEquality, Sport
The sociology of soccer
A few weeks ago, I was invited to respond to a paper at a seminar jointly hosted by the departments of sociology and anthropology at the University of Johannesburg. The presenter was soccer sociologist Dr Marc Fletcher, a post-doctoral fellow in the department and his paper interrogated as part of a larger thesis, that both […]
Posted inSport
Keep dancing, Sir Alex Ferguson
I love sports. A thousand years ago I used to play a lot of it. Nowadays I enjoy watching the odd live game. My big passion is soccer but I have an appreciation of almost any discipline which requires skill and dedication. For goodness sake I am even hooked on the McCoy’s Premier League darts […]
Posted inGeneral, Sport
Liverpool to retain Suarez for Crufts
Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers moved swiftly to quell any talk of serial biter Luis Suarez leaving Anfield following the striker’s attack on Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic midway through the second half of yesterday’s 2-2 draw with Chelsea. Rodgers said that as soon as the striker returned to the changeroom he had given him several smacks […]
Posted inSport
No beautiful game at school
It’s not that there’s no demand for association football — far from it. Both in the 80s, when I attended the South African College Schools (Sacs), and even more so now — when soccer is the breaktime pick-up game of choice — the round ball is evidently popular. Why then is Mzansi’s majority sport still […]
Posted inSport
Saving Bafana
The single biggest threat to our national soccer team is our national hockey team. Allow me to explain: Our soccer is average because the sport is cultivated outside of any centres of excellence. Rugby for example is cultivated in former Model C schools and private schools with ample resources and a disciplined work ethic. The […]
Posted inNews/Politics, Sport
Caster, Oscar, Hashim — their victories, our hope
By Greg Nott This past week has been filled with extraordinary and historical sporting moments that are so inspirational they’re almost too good to be true. They hold a key for our political future; if we’ll appreciate the significance of the events. When I first met Caster Semenya, it was August 2009. She had just […]
Posted inSport
Sex and drugs and the Olympic roll
With the Summer Olympics in London approaching, most of the world will soon be captivated by the primitive spectacle of sport. National teams will compete for the irrational glorification of the nation state they represent, whatever their parentage, whether they were born in that country or elsewhere. The well-resourced nations will take most of the […]