Artigo Revisado por pares

Opening a Window on Early Twentieth-Century School Sport in Cape Town Society

2014; Routledge; Volume: 31; Issue: 15 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/09523367.2014.934679

ISSN

1743-9035

Autores

Francois Johannes Cleophas,

Tópico(s)

Physical Education and Pedagogy

Resumo

AbstractAn attempt was made at recording structured sport in non-White schools in Cape Town, South Africa, prior to 1956. The study was introduced with a historical presentation of sport at mission schools. It was shown how these schools inherited a legacy of deprivation and neglect that impacted upon sport participation. Yet, champion sportspersons at these schools gained some recognition in a racist and hostile society. This was possible due to the efforts of a few Teachers' League of South Africa (TLSA) campaigners who saw sport development as part of their mission of uplifting children in their charge. The TLSA attempted organising athletic meetings from 1916 onwards. Teachers belonging to this organisation were instrumental in establishing the first mass-based school sport organisation in Cape Town in 1928, the Central School Sports Union (CSU). This organisation was the only avenue of meaningful sport participation for most of Cape Town's marginalised children. A study of the CSU enables historians to open a window not only on social and political complexities of school sport but also on the broader early twentieth-century Cape society.Keywords:: Cape TownCentral School Sport UnionColouredmission schoolsTeachers' League of South Africa Notes 1.CitationCleophas and Van der Merwe, "Physical Education"; CitationCleophas, "A Historical Exploration." 2. During the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, ruling parties in South Africa classified four major 'race' groups: African, Coloured, Indian and White. The researcher rejects notions of 'race' as a scientific category but uses these descriptions nevertheless for the sake of common understanding. People who spoke Bantu languages were referred to as African, while persons who were the products of miscegenation between colonial Whites and other groups were labelled Coloured. 3.CitationMalherbe, Education in South Africa, 88. 4. "Mission Schools or Public Schools?" The Educational Journal, no. 3 (1917): 4. 5. The CSU was organized by Coloured teachers, and in a few exceptions, Africans played minor roles. 6.CitationBooth, The Field, 42. 7. "The Student Sports Union," Sun, August 26, 1932; "Sport in Schools," Cape Standard, April 3, 1945. 8. The Transvaal was one of the four provinces in South Africa during the period under review. The other were Cape Province, Natal and Orange Free State. 9. "Sport in the Schools," Sun, October 21, 1932. 10.CitationCleophas, "Contexting," 23. 11. "School Sports," Sun, November 13, 1936; "Bredasdorp Sports Meeting," Sun, April 24, 1936. 12. "Wesley Wrestling & Boxing Tournament," Cape Standard, September 6, 1938. 13.CitationVan der Ross, The Rise and Decline, 80, 86. 14.CitationAdhikari, Let Us Live, 29. 15.CitationMotlhabi, The Theory and Practice, 7. 16.CitationDepartment of Public Education, Cape of Good Hope, Report of the Superintendent-General, 15. 17. "Appalling Conditions of Coloureds," Cape Standard, January 4, 1938. 18.CitationCaldecott, The Government and Civilization, 30. 19.CitationNdee, "Sport, Culture and Society," 198. 20.CitationRacing Past, "The History." 21.CitationNoronha, Kipchoge of Kenya, 35. 22.CitationSouth African Olympic and British Empire Games Association, Minutes of the Meeting, 2. 23.CitationMphalele, Down Second Avenue, 129. 24.CitationThomas, Time with Dennis Brutus, 7. 25.CitationFebruary, From the Arsenal, 196. 26. "The Value of Swimming," The Educational Journal, no. 2 (1916): 2. 27. "Gymnasium Display on Robben Island," The Educational Journal, no. 2 (1916): 12. 28.CitationWieder, Teacher and Comrade, 22. 29. "Roll Up, Schools!" The Educational Journal, no. 3 (1917): 2. 30. "Sports at School," The Educational Journal, no. 3 (1918): 3. 31. "Cricket," The Educational Journal, no. 3 (1918): 8. 32. "Inter-School Soccer," The Educational Journal, no. 5 (1922): 3. 33. All TLSA members with the exception of a few Africans were classified Coloured. The presidents of the TLSA were, without exception, moderate in political outlook. 34.CitationAdhikari, Let Us Live, 185. 35. "The 1922 Conference," The Educational Journal, no. 5 (1922): 5. 36. "Our Childrens' Future," The Educational Journal, no.7 (1926): 3. 37. "Sport and Work," The Sun, December 2, 1932. 38. According to Sigi Howes from the Centre of Conservation, Western Cape Education Department, the Dock District Public School came about in 1895 when the St Andrew's Mission School (est. 1841) amalgamated with the Harbour Works EC Mission School (est. 1861). It catered for the dock workers' children, White and Coloured. By 1920, it was a school providing education for Coloured children only. 39. "Friendly Fixture," The Clarion, February 21, 1920. 40. "Roll Up, Schools!" The Educational Journal, no. 3 (1917): 2. 41. "Sports at Green Point Track," Cape Times, October 2, 1917. 42.CitationAdhikari, Let Us Live, 52. 43. Although these schools carried status in the Coloured community, they were in poor condition compared to White schools. CitationAdhikari, Let Us Live, 29. The A.P.O. commented on February 22, 1913, that the one public school set aside for higher learning for Coloured children, Trafalgar High School, was a 'miserable hovel and much inferior to many mission schools'. The EJ of October–December 1925 reported on a public school, to be opened for Coloured students the following year. This was Livingstone High School and became a highly respected institution. CitationWieder, Teacher and Comrade, 1. This school was, however, described in the Sun of March 19, 1937, as one with less than 100 pupils and served the whole of the southern suburbs in Cape Town as the only public school. 44. This was a Public School and was a prestigious institution in the Coloured community. CitationAdhikari, Let Us Live, 45. 45. Zonnebloem College was started as an elitist institution for the sons of African chiefs in the nineteenth century. During the twentieth century, it became a Coloured institution with a tradition of athletics. CitationCleophas, "Running a History Programme." 46. This was a public high school for Coloured children but was described by Dr Abdurhaman, the most influential political leader at the time, as a 'miserable hovel'. CitationAdhikari, Let Us Live, 29. 47. "Inter-School Sports," The Educational Journal, no. 3 (1917): 8. 48. See CitationCleophas and Van der Merwe, "Exercising 'Race'." 49. "Schools and Sport," Clarion, April 5, 1919. 50. "Sports at Green Point Track," Cape Times, October 2, 1917. 51. "Schoolmasters Sponsor Sports," Cape Standard, May 1, 1945. 52. "Sport in Our Schools," Sun, September 1, 1933. 53. "Athlone and District Sports Union," The Sun, April 28, 1939. 54. "Schoolmasters Sponsor Sports," Cape Standard, May 1, 1945. 55. "The Schools' Sports Union," The Educational Journal, no. 7 (1929): 5. 56. "Death of Mr. D.J. Abrahams," Cape Standard, February 9, 1943. 57. The Perserverance Rugby Club was established in 1889 amongst the Coloured community in the old Raapenberg area in Mowbray, Cape Town. CitationBooley, Forgotten Heroes, 163. 58. "The Schools' Sports Union," The Educational Journal, no. 7 (1929): 5. 59. "From My Tower," Cape Standard, March 8, 1938. 60. "Uncle Jim Writes About Football and Netball at Mowbray," Cape Standard, October 4, 1938. 61. "The Schools' Sports Union," The Educational Journal, no. 7 (1929): 5. 62. "The Students' Sports Union," Sun, August 26, 1932. 63. "Uncle Jim Writes of Men and Women in the Making," Cape Standard, September 13, 1938. 64.CitationAdhikari, Let Us Live, 30. 65. Ibid., 135. 66. "Sport in Schools," Cape Standard, April 3, 1945. 67. "Coloured Education," The Educational Journal, no. 7 (1925): 3. 68. "Zonnebloem College Annual Sports," Sun, June 8, 1934. 69.CitationLaw, "Why Playing Fields?" 70.CitationBickford-Smith, van Heyningen and Worden, Cape Town, 81; CitationEdgar, An African American, 76. 71.CitationHouse of Lords, "Provision of Playing Fields"; CitationLaw, "Why Playing Fields?" 72. District Six was an inner-city living quarters in Cape Town whose inhabitants, largely Coloured, was described by one author, quoting from a Coloured Commission of Enquiry of 1937, as 'creatures of conditions in the same way as are the slum and criminal elements in all the great cities of the world'. CitationHatfield and Manuel, District Six (see "Foreword"). 73.CitationLaw, "Playing Fields Associations," 14. 74.CitationVan der Poel, "The Present Position," 44. 75.CitationDalehoudt, "Sir Thomas Muir," 227. 76. "Schools' Sports Union," Sun, November 11, 1932. 77. "Sport in Schools," Cape Standard, April 3, 1945. 78.CitationHirson, "The Trotskyist Groups," 30, 40. 79.CitationBorman, The Cape Education Department, 241. 80. "Uncle Jim Writes About Football and Netball at Mowbray," Cape Standard, October 4, 1938. 81. "Schoolmasters Sponsor Sports," The Cape Standard, May 1, 1945. 82. "Schools' Swimming Gala," Cape Standard, February 17, 1942. Kies and Abrahams associated themselves with radical political elements, while Heneke and Golding moved in moderate circles. CitationAdhikari, Let Us Live, 70, 78. 83.CitationLewis, Between the Wire, 181. 84.CitationAdhikari, Let Us Live, 70. 85. "Paarl-Wellington Prolific Cricket Union," The Sun, December 11, 1936. 86.CitationBooley, Forgotten Heroes, 15. 87. "Kimberley Conference Arrangements," The Educational Journal, no. 7 (1926): 12. 88.CitationVan der Ross, The Rise and Decline, 180. 89.CitationWieder, Teacher and Comrade, 22–3. 90.CitationAdhikari, Let Us Live, 97. 91. "School Sports Union," Sun, February 12, 1937. 92. "Death of Mr D.J. Abrahams," Cape Standard, February 9, 1943; "Cape Town Schools Hold Athletic Meet," Cape Herald, April 9, 1966. 93. "Pigeon Racing," The Sun, September 17, 1937. 94. "The Achilles Athletic Club," Cape Standard, March 14, 1944. 95. The T.E.P.A. was the official organ of the Teachers' Educational Professional Association (TEPA) was a breakaway body from the TLSA. The TEPA had a more politically moderate programme of action than the TLSA. 96. "Obituary. C.D. Sassman," TEPA. Organ of the Teachers' Educational and Professional Association, no. 4 (1950): 6. 97. "The Western Province Coloured Football Association," The Clarion, April 26, 1919. According to the A.P.O., Official Organ of the African Political Organisation of April 23, 1910, the WPFA (Coloured) was established in 1904. 98.CitationHendricks, "A Principled Engagement?" 154; "Central Schools' Sports Union Officials," Cape Standard, February 18, 1941. 99.CitationAdhikari, Let Us Live, 185.100. "South African Tennis Championships," Sun, January 8, 1937.101. "Visit of All-India Soccer Team," Sun, June 29, 1934.102. "Cape and District Tennis Union," Sun, June 8, 1934; "Cape and District Tennis Union," Sun, October 2, 1936.103. "Outstanding Tennis Tourney," Sun, March 13, 1936.104.CitationGreyvenstein, The Bennie Osler Story, 23.105. "Backwardness of Non-European Sport," Sun, October 14, 1932.106. "Cape Town Schools Hold Athletic Meet," Cape Herald, April 9, 1966.107. "The S.A. Soccer Board Executive in Happy Mood," Sun, June 18, 1948; "C.A.C. Golding in Disfavour with Footballers," Torch, July 19, 1948. The controversy centred around Golding's involvement with the Coloured Affairs Advisory Council (CAC). The CAC was a statutory body made up of Coloured people who had powers to advise the government on matters affecting that community. Radical teachers viewed the CAC as a racist, puppet institution. CitationAdhikari, Let Us Live, 71.108.CitationVan der Ross, The Rise and Decline, 206.109. "Film of Physical Display," Cape Standard, November 19, 1940.110. "Western Province Tennis Tournament," Sun, January 11, 1935; "South African Tennis Championships," Sun, January 8, 1937.111. "To What I Attribute My Success," Sun, January 13, 1933.112. "Tennis Competition Ends," Sun, April 24, 1936.113. "South African Board of Control," Sun, January 1, 1937.114. "Backwardness of Non-European Sport," Sun, November 11, 1932.115. "Sports News in Brief," Sun, March 25, 1950.116. "Inclusion of Moslem Players," Sun, January 22, 1954.117. "Cape Town Open Championships," Sun, June 18, 1948; "Ashley Table Tennis Club," The Sun, August 20, 1948.118. "Western Province Open Table Tennis Championships," Sun, July 15, 1949.119.CitationAdhikari, Let Us Live, 166.120.CitationCape of Good Hope, Report of the Select Committee, 43–4.121.CitationZonnebloem College Magazine, "More Play Needed," 13.Additional informationNotes on contributorsFrancois J. CleophasFrancois J. Cleophas is a senior lecturer in Sport History at Stellenbosch University. His focus area is South African sport and Physical Education History.

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