By Satish Sekar © Satish Sekar (August 18^th 2020)

Strange Fruit

South Africa was a very strange member of FIFA – they toured South America and elsewhere, but never played in the major tournaments. In 1906 they beat Argentina 1-0 in South America. But this raises other issues. Argentina, Uruguay, the USA and Canada had also played international matches before the 1908 Olympic Games.

This, and the next Olympic Games in Stockholm, were before the infamous Native Land Act1 of 1913 became law in South Afica and long before Daniel Malan’s National Party came to power in 1948 and completed the process of legitimising virulent racism culminating in Apartheid.

These laws gave legal sanction to utterly disgraceful racism. London’s first Olympic Games was before white South Africans were given control of the country by Britain establishing the Union of South Africa in 1910. Nevertheless, racism had taken root in South African sport before the Union was established and the shameful Native Land Act became law.

International Pariah

The National Party came to power in 1948 on a platform of establishing Apartheid by passing laws to enforce the racist laws and procedures even more rigorously than before. That started the process of turning the country into an African and sporting pariah.

The process of isolating Apartheid South Africa politically and through sport became essential in the international community when the Group Areas Act of 1950 and further racist laws became law.

Hendrik Verwoerd, seen by many as the architect of Apartheid, was Minister of Native Affairs (1950-1958) and then Prime Minister until he was assassinated in 1966. He developed and implemented the worst aspects of the policy of Apartheid.2

Nevertheless, it had been a British colony in the nineteenth century and developed more and more racist policies as the twentieth century progressed – Britain cannot claim a free pass on the development of racism in South Africa.

As early as 1904-05 South Africa showed that it rejected normal sport in favour of an abnormal society. That was under British administration. But South Africa was far from

alone in exhibiting virulent racism in sport. The organisers of St Louis’ Olympic Games displayed outrageous racism. It was so vile, that Olympiad deserves an asterisk.

Why did the IOC and FIFA tolerate it for so long?

• 1 The Native Land Act was a precursor of the Group Areas Act, which formalised Apartheid in 1950 – enforcing ‘Pass Laws’ even though they had existed in the 18th Century. They were used from 1709 in the Cape to keep track of slaves, but after abolition in 1808 ‘passes’ were transformed into a means of preventing movement and securing cheap labour – slavery in all but name. However, the seizure of land from native inhabitants began far earlier. It was Apartheid without the name. Segregation accompanied land seizure from an early stage. It was formalised by the Glen Grey Act of 1894 and before that the Thembu were deemed to have forfeited their land by fighting against the colonial administration. In 1879 their land was stolen. After the Boer Wars the British and Afrikaners worked together to create a ‘new’ State. The Union of South Africa was established in 1910. The non-white majority were excluded from participation before and after it was established. Although the name Apartheid was not applied, the Union of South Africa was no union, and it was an Apartheid State. 2 The strange story of South Africa’s role in African football, international organisation of the sport and competition will be detailed soon in The Non-Participating Member.