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Finding a new identity for a township club – the case of the Mighty 5 Star in Stellenbosch

2011; Routledge; Volume: 28; Issue: 15 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/09523367.2011.622116

1743-9035

Sylvain Cubizolles,

Sports, Gender, and Society

Abstract This article analyses how football membership has been transformed in Kayamandi, a township situated on the outskirts of Stellenbosch in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It focuses on the rationales behind membership in the Mighty 5 Star, a Kayamandi amateur club created in 1972, in order to understand the changing interrelationships between the club and the neighbourhood. Based on participatory observations, written sources published by the club on the internet, as well as interviews, this article discusses the various membership processes between the club and the players from 1972 to 2011, characterising the social and urban rationales that have structured and organised them, and situating those rationales, whenever possible, in the history of the political and social changes in South Africa since 1972. The article illustrates how an imported football model can move into spaces hitherto organised around football models which expressed different interests on a local level. Moreover, it shows how north-south sports relations may, at an amateur sport level, transform the social rationales around and interrelationship with an urban territory. Keywords: South Africasportsoccertownshipekase football Notes 1. I would like to thank Susann Baller, Scarlett Cornelissen and the anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments and suggestions. 2. The author stayed in Stellenbosch from 2005 to 2006 for a post-doctorate fellowship at the University of Stellenbosch, and subsequently for two-week visits in 2008 and 2009, and again for two more in 2010. See also Cubizolles, 'Soccer in a Rugby Town'; Cubizolles Le football en Afrique du Sud; Cubizolles, 'Marketing Identity and Place'; Duret and Cubizolles, 'Jouer au Foot dans les Townships'; Duret and Cubizolles, 'Sport, Rivalité et Solidarité dans les Ghettos'. 3. The phrase means 'location football'. It was used several times by former players or former club members when they were referring to football as it used to be played in Kayamandi. 4. A note on the history of the club is at http://www.footbo.com/Teams/TM_Mighty_Five_Star_FC/History (accessed July 4, 2011). 5. Fauvelle-Aymar, Histoire de l Afrique du Sud, 359. 6. Penderis and Van Der Merwe, 'Kayamandi Hostels, Stellenbosch'. 7. Zietsman, 'Recent Changes in the Population', 9. 8. Archer and Bouillon, Sport et Apartheid ; Nauright, Sport, Cultures and Identities; Alegi, Laduma! 9. Couzens, 'Moralising Leisure Time', 28 10. http://www.footbo.com/Teams/TM_Mighty_Five_Star_FC/History 11. Alegi, Laduma!, 39. 12. Jeffrey, `Street Rivalry and Patron-Managers', 70. 13. Interview A*, former player, 47, Stellenbosch, April 2009. The names of the interviewees have not been recorded in order to keep them anonymous. I only indicate an identification code, the function of the interviewee (such as 'player') and the age. 14. Interview, L*, former player, 43, Stellenbosch, April 2008. 15. Fauvelle-Aymar, Histoire de l Afrique du Sud, 48. 16. Jeffrey, `Street Rivalry and Patron-Managers', 72. 17. Ibid., 71. 18. Interview, La*, former player, 51, Stellenbosch, April 2009. 19. Interview, A*, former player, 47, Stellenbosch, April 2009. 20. Interview, R*, former member, 50, Stellenbosch, June 2010. 21. A name used for Eastern Cape migrants who were supposed to know nothing of life in the township and could only live among the cattle and sheep. 22. Interview, La*, former player, 51, Stellenbosch, April 2009. 23. Bromberger and Mariottini, `Le Rouge et le Noir', 83. 24. Interview, F*, former player, 46, Stellenbosch, June 2010. 25. Duret, Sociologie de la Compétition, 54. 26. Zietsman, `Recent Changes in the Population', 10. 27. Guillaume, Johannesburg, 123. 28. Gervais-Lambony, `Afrique du Sud, les Temps du Changement', 87. 29. Cubizolles, `Soccer in a Rugby Town', 108. 30. Desai, 'Entre Destruction Néolibérale', 62. 31. A 'shebeen' is a kind of bar. While some are identified and have a sign, others are informal places. 32. Interview, R*, a former player, 45, Stellenbosch, April 2009. 33. Kayamandi Tourism Center, Architect and Builder 58 no. 5, October/November 2007. 34. Cubizolles, Le football en Afrique du Sud, 112. 35. Interview, La*, former player, 51, Stellenbosch, April 2009. 36. See: http://www.footbo.com/Teams/TM_Mighty_Five_Star_FC/History (accessed July 4, 2011). 37. Alegi, African Soccerscapes, 106. 38. Interview, L*, former player, 43, Stellenbosch, April 2008. 39. Interview, R*, former player, 45, Stellenbosch, June 2010. 40. Chevalier, 'Les "Black Diamonds"', 75. 41. The date when Matel 5 Star became Mighty 5 Star, as mentioned in the history presented on the club's webpage: http://www.footbo.com/Teams/TM_Mighty_Five_Star_FC/History (accessed July 4, 2011). 42. In 2006, it was estimated 22,000, with a growth rate of 10% a year. 43. Zietsman, `Recent Changes in the Population', 9. 44. Cubizolles, Le football en Afrique du Sud, 30. 45. Kayamandi Urban Renewal, http://www.dmp.co.za/services/popup.php?id=31 (accessed August 9, 2011). 46. Company Portfolio Summary, http://dmp.snowball.co.za/downloads/downloads/dmp-company-portfolio.pdf (accessed August 9, 2011). 47. Cubizolles, 'Marketing Identity and Place', 33. 48. Zietsman, 'Recent Changes in the Population', 9. 49. Stellenbosch Municipality, 2005, http://www.ghcs.co.za/Town_Planning/Stellenbosch_Preliminary_SDF_Jan06.pdf (accessed August 9, 2011). 50. Guillaume, Johannesburg, 55. 51. Gervais-Lambony, 'Afrique du Sud, les Temps du Changement', 87. 52. Interview, R*, member of the under 17 team of the Mighty 5 Star, 16, Stellenbosch, June 2010. 53. Interview, P*, player of the Mighty 5 Star premier team, 20, Stellenbosch, April 2009. 54. Interview, W*, premier team player, 21, Stellenbosch, June 2010. 55. Interview, G*, manager with the Mighty 5 Star, 29, Stellenbosch, June 2010. 56. Alegi, Laduma!; Jeffrey, 'Street Rivalry and Patron-Managers'. 57. In our interviews, recurrent criticism of the change did not concern the fact that in the present identity of the club, the members' Eastern Cape origin has been forgotten, but rather that some of the players are quite unknown. In contrast, that the Mighty 5 Star has been given new values, based on excellence, was deemed a positive move. 58. An excerpt from the GivenGain website, December 16, 2008. The Mighty 5 Star, which used to post the whole of its project on that charity site, is no longer on it. For a brief view of the club's philosophy, see the above mentioned link: http://www.footbo.com/Teams/TM_Mighty_Five_Star_FC (accessed July 4, 2011). 59. Cubizolles, 'Soccer in a Rugby Town', 113. 60. Duret and Cubizolles, 'Sport, Rivalité et Solidarité'. 61. Maltese and Prevot, 'Management de la réputation', 64. Reputation management is based on the perception of the identity of a firm such as it communicates it, but also on the judgment on the actions of the firm and its performances. In view of this, the club is very careful how its members behave, as they influence that reputation, and it is through them that the club advertises the values with which it wants to be identified. 62. Interview, G*, Mighty 5 Star manager, 29, Stellenbosch, June 2010. 63. Interview, W*, player in the premier team, 20, Stellenbosch, June 2010. 64. Interview, Ge*, Mighty 5 Star manager, 30, Stellenbosch, June 2010. 65. http://www.safa.net/index.php?page=safainformation (accessed on 13 January 2008). 66. Interview, G*, Mighty 5 Star manager, 29, Stellenbosch, June 2010. 67. Interview, P*, player in the premier team, 21, Stellenbosch, June 2010. 68. Interview, G*, Mighty 5 Star manager, 29, Stellenbosch, June 2010. 69. Interview, Ge*, Mighty 5 Star manager, 30, Stellenbosch, June 2010. 70. Amstrong and Rosbrook-Thompson, 'Les Pionniers de la Franchise de Football', 44. 71. Jeffrey, 'Street Rivalry and Patron-Managers', 90.