The African Political Organisation’s contributions to South African sports, 1914-1915 (Part II)

Abstract

The history of South African sport remains an under researched area. According to the historian, Ander Odendaal, the racist nature of 20th Century South African society implies that there are “past exclusions that persist” (Odendaal, 2006:27) In order to address this situation, a scientifichistorical enquiry into the publications of the official mouthpiece of the African Political Organisation (APO) was undertaken. The APO official mouthpiece or newspaper was also called “The APO”. A descriptive account of organized sport that received coverage in “The APO” during the period 1914-1915, is presented in this article. Research in this area was previously conducted for the period 1909 – 1913 (see Cleophas & Van der Merwe, 2010). It is imperative that the two articles be read together, in order to get a clear understanding of the connection between the APO and sport. The APO provides sport historians with a panoramic view of participation practices of historically marginalised communities in urban centres, as well as in obscure rural villages. The newspaper also provides a comprehensive overview of sport
participation levels during the early years of the 20th century.

Key words: African Political Organisation (APO), sport, South Africa.