Alcohol and social control: customary authority versus management authority in the construction and management of ‘deviance’ in Fiji soccer, 1980–2000

The aim of this article is to interrogate the use of alcohol in elite soccer in the Fiji Islands covering the period 1980–2000. Based on interviews with six ex-Premier League players from the 1980s, and participant-observation, we find that alcohol works as a form of currency, social lubricant, source of temptation, tool of tribute, and tool of resistance. Alcohol-related excesses reveal and are a product of the wealth disparity and income-inequality between the Fiji Indian businessmen, who manage, control and sponsor the sport, and the mostly very poor players (both Indigenous and Fiji Indian) who require payment and organisation from powerful others to go on overseas playing trips. The players are aware of these inequalities and find ways to assert their independence including social drinking. They assert their independence in this way to maximise the enjoyment factor and to create memories that can be recalled as the years pass.