‘You must support Chiefs; Pirates already have two white fans!’: race and racial discourse in South African football fandom

Abstract

This essay explores the salience of race in South African football fandom and society through an analysis of the racial discourses surrounding Manchester United’s 2008 pre‐season tour of South Africa. Based on extensive ethnographic fieldwork, the case studies of Kaizer Chiefs and Manchester United supporter clubs in Johannesburg bring into sharp relief factors that have engendered stark divisions in South African fandom. Issues of class and the financial means to follow the team are of great importance; perceptions of black 2 2. When referring to race, the essay uses the racial categories of Black, White, Coloured and later Indian that were formalized in the Population Registration Act of 1950. Although the essay acknowledges that these were artificial constructs created by the apartheid regime, they are still in both official and everyday use. The respondents have used this terminology in both interviews and informal conversations. ‘ownership’ of the domestic game; crime and safety issues and the locales in which these games are watched and consumed are also significant. The essay examines a third case study, that of Bidvest Wits supporters club, to argue that while there is still a racial divide in South African football culture, the game is more racially and ethnically diverse than usually recognized. In other words, football is not the exclusive domain of black fans.

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