Description
Book SynopsisIn 1971, the non-racial Southern African Lawn Tennis Union sent six promising young players on a historic tour to play tournaments in Europe. The team was known as the 'Dhiraj' squad, after national champion Jasmat Dhiraj. Apartheid South Africa in the 1970s was a racist and repressive society, based on white supremacy and privilege and black oppression. Black tennis players were denied proper facilities, coaching, opportunities to excel, and the chance to represent their country and play international tournaments. They could not belong to the same clubs as whites or compete in competitions with or against white players. Despite the barriers and constraints, many black sportspersons and sports administrators courageously and determinedly pursued the ideals of non-racialism in sport and in the wider society, often at great personal cost to themselves. Tennis, Apartheid and Social Justice records the political, social and sporting conditions associated with the 1971 tour, the adventures of the talented young black tennis players, the impact of the tour on them and the lessons learned. It documents the collusion of international tennis associations with the racist white-only South African tennis body that prevented a Dhiraj squad member, Hoosen Bobat, the opportunity to play in the Junior Wimbledon championships. The book contends that there has been neither recognition of nor reparations for outstanding apartheid-era black sportspersons and that the apartheid legacy continues to impinge powerfully on tennis today.
Table of Contents
- Foreword by Professor Paulus Zulu
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- 1971 Tennis Tour Timeline
- Introduction
- PART ONE
- 1 Fifty-Two Years Ago
- 2 Sport and Social Justice
- 3 Reclaiming the Narrative on Tennis History
- 4 From Colonialism to Apartheid in Sport
- 5 Tennis under Apartheid
- 6 International Collusion with Apartheid Sport
- 7 The Historic 1971 Tour
- 8 UK Tournaments: April to June 1971
- 9 The Rest of the Tour
- 10 Lighter Moments and Tour Lessons
- 11 Conclusion
- PART TWO
- 12 The Dhiraj Squad
- 13 Jasmat (Dhiraj) Soma
- 14 Hiralal (Dhiraj) Soma
- 15 Alwyn Solomon
- 16 Oscar Woodman
- 17 Hoosen Bobat
- 18 Cavan Bergman
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
