Soccer as a primary consideration

RP2: “(laughs) well couldn’t play soccer.”

RP4: “I couldn’t just sit there and do nothing and I couldn’t play soccer so I said let

me just go do rugby.”

Both the extracts demonstrate an inability to excel and participate ina sport that is considered the black male sport. Although there seemed to be expressed disappointment in the self for being unable to play soccer, RP4 wanted to find a sport that he could participate in, as not getting involved seemed unnatural. The idea of being a male who does not play sport did not fit into the masculine image of African culture, as being a man included being active, not passive. Most of the participants had attended multiracial schools, which predominantly encouraged and celebrated rugby participation more than other sporting codes, such as soccer. These extracts highlight how these players were introduced to rugby by “default,” and the significance of race-specific sport.

RP5: “well, it’s just we had to play sports in high school, uhhm soccer was only third

semester and I was just keen, keen to learn something new uhhm I just wanted to do something that I haven’t done before and it looked exciting.”

RP7: “uhhm soccer was more, it was influenced by my father, because you know, he

was into soccer and the whole soccer is for black people kind of thing, I ended up playing, so yeah, I thought soccer was for me but, you know.”

RP5 saw rugby a new challenge for him to conquer whilst waiting for the soccer season to start. Based on these extracts it appears that fundamentally these players were all rooted in soccer before their exposure to rugby, whether participation in soccer was because it was understood as being the sport of black people or influenced by family, as evident in RP7’s case where his father seemed to be the driving force behind his participation in soccer. In the case of RP5, Steinberg (1993) relates this to the Oedipal conflict in the competition between the father and son for the mother. This conflict results in the son trying to identify with the father out of fear of castration in order to assume a masculine role. So in some ways it could be argued that his involvement in soccer is to model himself after the father. As much as his race had originally decided his participation in soccer, his need to create himself as replica of the father in order to retain his masculinity may have also played an important role, although he eventually ended up playing rugby.

Phillips (as cited in Nauright & Chandler, 1996) suggested that rugby was created for the execution of the idea of producing the “manly gentleman,” which seems to be something most of the rugby players would agree with based on the values they disclosed having learnt in their exposure to the sport. According to Kendall (2011, p. 81),values can be described as “collective ideas about what is right or wrong, good or bad, and desirable or undesirable in a particular culture.” These values seem to have been closely linked to class, as certain behaviours seemed to be attached to the black environment, which is viewed as producing a less gentlemanly and socially acceptable character of men. Although the behaviour described concerning the soccer players is complementaryto the male identity as ascribed by society, the extent to which this behaviouris taken is, however, disapproved of by the participants.

RP5: “the serious side of my life came when I started playing rugby cause its more

structured people take it more seriously in a sense as opposed to soccer where it’s all fun and games, we all having fun because we love it and uhhm like discipline as well…”

RP1: “these football players disrespect the refs like uhm it’s it’s a bit hard to say but

it’s the truth, just look at the way refs are viewed I mean on the rugby field, on the soccer field, yeah they get a bit angry at the ref but for us as much as you, we view the ref as like, in Afrikaans we say oom as in uncle you know.”

RP7: “I’ve learned a lot of discipline in rugby than I think in people who play,it’s not

like I’m teasing or anything, people who play soccer don’t have those kind of morals.”

An image has been created ofsoccer playersas ill-disciplined, which is term that would be considered as well-suited to describe black people. It is quite evident that the rugby identity has taken such a primary role in the participants’ lives,as reflected by their need to compete with other sporting codes in order to retain their reputation as a “manly gentleman.”However, that is only achieved by contrasting themselves to the soccer players, who are viewed as ill- disciplined and disrespectful. The participants seem to project the idea that rugby as a sport has taught them respect and discipline, and they believe that soccer does not produce the same principles. There is strong need to elevate the rugby standard and the kind of “men” it produces in comparison to what is considered to be the “man’s sport” (i.e soccer).There may be a sense of “othering” between black rugby players and soccer players, possibly due to the competitive nature of who is the ultimate man because soccer does pose a bigger threat than other sports when it comes to being identified as manly (whether you watch or play the sport). While this competition may also be a competition of race in a sense, where soccer players are often identified as black whilst the black rugby players are labelled “coconuts.” Mtose and Bayaga (2011, p. 511) use the term “false consciousness,” coined by Manganyi in 1973 to explain an extreme version of this phenomenon whereby black people assume a white identity and consequently become alienated from self and theircommunity. Hence the assimilation into white culture provides the black person with a falseidentity because it requires the substitution of his/her African culture for a white culture. The players have taken on the culture in a way that plays a role in their construction of their identity as human beings and men; the lessons and values they learnt from rugby form an important part of their lives. The clear distinction between these two sports clearly highlights the difference in privileges when it comes to the sports. RP3’s comment seems to expose an underlying impression of black soccer players being inferior or beneath back rugby players. His statement suggests that the privileges they as rugby players receive are far beyond and possibly classier than those of soccer players. This refers back to the idea of a white woman being the ultimate prize for a black man to claim their status in society, so implying that a soccer player may have difficulty pursuing a white woman becomes a clear distinguisher of who is the “better man.”

RP3: “But if you playing soccer you didn’t get a white girl cause no guy who played

soccer was dating a white girl.”

RP6:“not like most soccer players do, some soccer players do get fame and they just

want to spend their cash without ukucabangelaemuvaukuthieish kana (thinking at the back of my head that) I don’t have a degree.”

The stereotype of the black soccer players spending their money recklessly on fancy cars and partying as a way to publicize their wealth has given room for RP6 to criticize this lifestyle choice, not from a black man’s perspective but rather from a rugby-playing black man’s perspective. RP6 suggests that the teachings and lessons he has learnt from rugby would prevent him from taking on such a lifestyle and this in some way prevents from identifying with the identity of these soccer players. This merely means that he assumes a position of rugby identity and not his black identity.Social identity theory in this case would recognize that similarity goes beyond race, instead highlighting other similarities the participants may have found in the rugby setting with other players. The identity and behavior of these players is greatly informed by their environment, similarly to what is expressed below by RP1:

RP1: “even white soccer players that, some of them have that tsotsitaal thing going

on, it’s just the environment.”

The above material exposes a different viewpoint to the way in which black individuals are positioned as trying to be white, but actually displays white males also trying to fit in with what is assumed to be a black lifestyle (playing soccer) by trying to be black. Much like the statement made about white soccer players being influenced by the ‘ black’ sporting environment they are in; black players’exposure tothe rugby environment can leadto a slight attempt to identify with the rest of the group that you are primarily exposed to.Thus suggests that once again a white man cannot be a white man playing soccer but rather a white man trying to be white because the sport he is playing is outside of his usual social circle. However, not as much attention has been given to the white soccer players as the black rugby players.