Senzo Meyiwa, the Lion-Heart, and the Line in the Sand
Senzo Meyiwa was a sweet guy. As footballers go he was about as sweet as they come. I never knew him that well. The first time we met was in a lift in the Hilton Hotel in Yaounde. It was the week of...
View ArticleAn Elegy for Stevie G
“ . . . no harm can come to a good man either in his life or after his death.” – Plato I am destined to remember the 2nd of January 2015 for the rest of my life. It is the day that marks the...
View ArticleMashaba’s Bafana Shake-Up
Ephraim “Shakes” Mashaba’s gait is half-limp – probably a consequence of his days as a solid defender, captaining Soweto giants Orlando Pirates and Moroka Swallows – and half bounce, like the old...
View ArticleAn Apology to Stevie G
Cast a cold eye On life, on death Horseman, pass by! - W.B. Yeats, Under Ben Bulben The end came in ignominy. It was a desultory, disheveled, listless performance by a poorly managed team against...
View ArticleElite Silence: Corruption in World Football
The recent news has provided extraordinary examples of how corruption erodes the resources and morals of an entire continent – Africa – in part because villains in South Africa made alliances with...
View ArticleMy Sister and Football
“In my unlikeliest dream , my dead are with me again, companions again, in an ordinary way; nothing of major moment to accomplish, no stains to cleanse, no oaths or debts to redeem: my dead are...
View ArticleWorshiping the Beautiful Game
Perhaps the problem started because of the distance between the church and our football pitch. My struggle to deal with the authority imposed on me didn’t make things better. The pitch wasn’t so much...
View ArticleBongani Khumalo’s Dream
The Wits University precinct – which stretches from Auckland Park to Braamfontein, Milpark and Parktown – has been fertile grounds for a revolution. It’s where the first spark of the #FeesMustFall...
View ArticleThe Seeds of the Imagination: Colin Kaepernick’s Gift
In his response to his friend Fredric Jameson’s essay “American Utopia,” Slavoj Žižek makes a case for what is all too often lost in the uproar and turmoil caused by a historical event. What is...
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