Football fandom, ethno-regionalism and rivalry in post-colonial Zimbabwe: case study of Highlanders and Dynamos

Abstract

This paper focuses on football fan rivalry in an African context using the case of Highlanders and Dynamos Football Clubs in Zimbabwe. It explores the intertwined historical, political and ethno-regional causes of this rivalry reflecting on how football reproduces underlying fractures that exist in society. Fan rivalries are an integral part of football across the world. Clashes between rival football teams are often highly charged encounters, resulting in cases of violence. As such the worst instances of football hooliganism are usually experienced during matches between rival football teams. Through the use of indepth interviews, internet research, key informant interviews and observation, we highlight the various dimensions and explanations of this rivalry. Often football becomes an outlay of wider societal conflicts. The stadium offers space for the playing out of these rivalries. Football rivalries thus offer a mirror into the socio-political tensions in society. Football in Africa is fraught with ethnic, racial, class and gender identities which often form the basis of rivalries.