FIFA and the South Africa question: The 1976/1977 football unity talks and their impact on the development of professional football in South Africa

Abstract

The football unity talks which formally began in October 1976 were important because sport was integral to the debate about the national question in South Africa. At the time, football as a sport code was designated in negative and racist undertones as a ‘sport for blacks’ and rugby, golf, athletics, hockey, cricket and swimming were regarded as sporting codes reserved for white South Africans. These sports benefited immensely in terms of generous funding, infrastructure and facilities provided by the apartheid regime. This paper will be based on the following themes. First, it will focus on the broad legislative measures which reinforced separate development and racism in South Africa and how these laws impacted on the development of sport. Second, it will scrutinize the role of the multilateral, worldwide antiapartheid movement and boycott movement, Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) and the Confederation of African Football (CAF) in using football sanctions as a tool to fight apartheid and racism in sport. Third, the football unity talks of 1976 will be analysed. This discussion will focus on issues inside the boardroom, the football field and what took place outside the boardroom and off the football field. Lastly, the impact of the unity on the players and the public at large-including the development of professional football since 1976 will be reviewed. A major theme which runs through the different sections is defined by the use and abuse of football as a tool for public and sport diplomacy. This was because the football unity talks in South Africa were as a result of what was taking place in the world of international, continental, national and local politics.