Abstract:
This essay explores the processes associated with the emergence of rugby and
soccer as distinct ‘sporting codes’ in South Africa. Beginning with an elaboration
of the concept of ‘sporting code’, the author traces in broad brush strokes the
events that transformed the two English codes into new forms of cultural capital
in transnational sporting fields. Set against this wider context, the focus then shifts
to the ‘social diffusion’ of rugby and soccer in the territories that would
subsequently constitute the South African state. It is argued that between 1859 and
the discovery of gold in 1886 rugby and soccer emerged in two relatively distinct
fields, centred on the British Cape and Natal colonies. The essay then explores the
stratification of these fields, following the establishment of the Union of South
Africa in 1910. Particular attention is given to the relative status of rugby and
soccer in the colonial education systems and in the post-1910 national education
system.
