Cultural Agency

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A school sports pitch is land that is demarcated by goalposts, white lines and grandstands, and that is constantly maintained through trimming, aeration, and irrigation. A space of physical exercise, competition, and celebration, the sports pitch embodies many memories for the student. For South Africa, this outdoor area is especially associated with the sports of football, rugby, and cricket, due to the country’s British colonial past.
        Up until 1967, sports codes fell under the purview of apartheid-era legistation, which enforced segregation in sports facilities and activities. Black and mixed-race students were mostly allocated to poorer schools with lower standards of education and less available facilities overall. In 1967, however, South African sports teams and organizations were banned from competing internationally due to the nation’s institutionalized racism. In response, a movement towards depoliticizing the South African sporting world began.¹ Since then, the cultural phenomena surrounding South African sports have been seen as clarion calls toward larger issues in South Africa. Protestors have invaded rugby pitches, presidents have celebrated unity through world-cup victories, and athletes have taken the knee internationally as symbolic gestures against racism in South Africa and across the world. 
        Physical education and sport have been seen as integral components of basic education. Even though South African sport has been championed as an agent for change, many historically white schools remain reluctant to compete with Black township schools in sporting events. These white schools continue to hold closed inter-school derbies and athletic meetings exclusively for other similarly resourced schools, all on their well-maintained sports fields. During an online poll held in 2021,² thirty-seven of the thirty-eight sports fields nominated for South Africa’s most beautiful sports field, were from historically white schools. These factors call into question the influence of sport on social or political agendas, all while the sports.

Image source: Wormsley, John Thomas, Football Pitch, Oil on canvas, 1903, Flintshire Record Office.