Constructing Sport and Recreation on the Playgrounds of Robben Island, 1963–1990

Robben Island (RI) gained its notoriety as a penal island for political prisoners during the apartheid period between 1962 and 1990. Used as a maximum-security prison to incarcerate black male anti-apartheid activists it soon became a place for different forms of struggles and the demands to play sport. Participating in sport and recreation was an important presence in prisoners' lives giving them the joy of physical activity and a semblance of normality in the harsh prison environment. Much has been written about soccer's unifying nature and how it was used to resist the harsh prison conditions. Political prisoner narratives and archival material, however, transcend the simplistic portrayal of sport, as a conscious tool of resistance. They reveal the complex ways in which prisoners negotiated for and constructed the sport and its playgrounds. Through a range of strategies, prisoners successfully established a variety of sport and recreation structures. Their determination to create additional sport codes, along with the facilities to support them, mirrored their dedication to nation-building even in the uncertainty about South Africa's future. Sport, therefore, provided a physical and metaphorical playground, a source of fun, for sociability and a tool to navigate daily life in a political prison.