Abstract
Singaporean rugby player Song Koon Poh is a marginal figure in international sports history. Due to his involvement in a rebel tour to apartheid South Africa in 1982 in contravention of the Gleneagles Agreement, the player received a life ban as a dissenter. Consequently, his version of events became part of the marginalization that often characterized the life story of those that pursue their own course irrespective of the consequences. However, his reinstatement soon after his banishment was not accompanied by any attempt to place his experiences in the mainstream of South African and Asian sports history. This paper reconstructs an accurate and fully contextualized record of the tour in question, emphasizing the pre- and post-tour experiences of Song Koon Poh, its only ethnic-Asian participant. Through this ‘voicing’, both the complexities of ‘native agency’ and the multi-dimensional nature of personal affirmation, the expression of a dissident conscience and dissent are revealed.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
