A biography of Darius Dhlomo: transnational footballer in the era of apartheid

Abstract

This biographical study of Darius Dhlomo begins to uncover the sporting past of a transnational and iconoclastic South African footballer. Based on the author’s interviews with Dhlomo, archival documents, articles from the black press, and a wide range of secondary sources, this essay deepens our understanding of broader processes of change in South African football between the 1940s and the 1960s. In striking, even surprising, ways Dhlomo’s career brings to life key aspects of South African football’s transformation from a local racially segregated amateur game to an increasingly mixed semi‐professional sport linked to trends such as international tours and labour migration. This work contributes to the ongoing democratization of South Africa’s historical record and highlights South Africans’ active role in the cultural and economic globalization of the world’s game.