Left! Left! Left! Left! Left! Left! Left!
In South Africa in the '60s,
apartheid was Iaw.
The poIice... The poIice were
extremeIy powerfuI, Iike an army,
peacefuI protests were met with kiIIing,
torture and imprisonment.
Our peopIe were denied aII basic rights.
-Manu!
-Manu!
Come on, boys, defence!
We risked our Iives
to advance the struggIe for freedom
and many of us ended up
on the notorious Robben IsIand,
the AIcatraz of Africa.
We found ourselves in a place and a ime
when i was easy o lose one's self.
lf spor was never here on Robben lsland,
hen really, i would have been
a very noorious place o live.
l seems srange ha wih wha
we remember and wha we've done,
ha we go and ell people
ha we've played soccer in prison.
lf you look a he way
ha we had o figh and campaign
o be allowed o play soccer, i's...
You could equae i o he figh for freedom.
Bu we did play soccer on Robben lsland
and l hink we played i well.
We were just becoming aware
of a crueI and unjust system
that was taking over most of our Iives.
My firs knowledge of his sysem
came from a primary school eacher.
He came ino he class and wroe he word
''apar'' and ''hae'' on he board,
emphasising the ''apart'' and ''hate''.
l made explosives.
In those days, you couId get the
components of expIosives aImost anywhere.
Imagine today going into a shop and saying,
''Good day, sir, can I have some ammonium
nitrate and ten kiIograms of toIuene.
''l wan o make some TNT, you see.''
I think we knew that we were getting
into something dangerous
when we were getting into the StruggIe.
But I don't think we knew exactIy
how dangerous it was going to be.
l seemed normal o
be involved in he Druggle.
Do much injusice in he land.
There was ension. And we were young.
I was in Standard 9 at
Hofmeyer High SchooI in Pretoria.
We were coIIecting unexpIoded sheIIs
from a nearby range for use at a Iater stage.
In the end, they came in overnight,
raided different homes,
arresed 250 o 300 kids.
Came in again, and those of us who were
simpIy trying to make sense
of the chaos that were around
were aIso taken in.
The Druggle mean a lo o me,
because l saw wha was happening.
I reaIised that our peopIe were oppressed
and therefore I feIt that I shouId invoIve
myseIf into the StruggIe.
Good evening, Mr Dioo.
Do where do you hink you're going?
I was arrested by the British
in Northern Rhodesia.
And hey drove us
all he way back o Preoria.
And of course, some of us came from
a differen poliical radiion.
The main Iiberation organisation
didn't offer what we were Iooking for.
We were a group of young activists,
rather inteIIectuaIIy incIined.
We had decided to study Mao Tse-tung's
book on guerriIIa war, Yu Chi Chan.
And when hey finally arresed us,
he media sounded as if he whole Red Army
had landed in Douh Africa.
We were at the beginning stages
and some of us were stiII trying to
organise to Ieave the country.
And then a comrade and I were arrested
getting a Iift with a famous person.
-Good afernoon.
-Good afernoon.
Your pass, please.
l don' carry a pass.
Chairman Mao says
he does no carry a pass.
Never mind, Mr Dolomon,
we know who you are.
You and Mr Bam.
Will you come wih us, please?
Good day, Mrs Mandela.
Bloody bich!
Fooball was my passion.
You could even say i was my obsession.
I was the Terror of AtteridgeviIIe.
-Pass he ball.
-I wanted to win.
When I pIayed footbaII, I pIayed hard.
I pIayed every chance I got.
Every time I got a baII or an open fieId,
I pIayed.
They toId me not to go to schooI that day.
This girI had come to my house and toId me
that the poIice were Iooking for me
and that they were going to Iook for me
at schooI.
And I had said to her, ''Let them Iook for me
at schooI. They know where to find me.
''Let them come and pick me up. ''
We were so brave.
What was a coupIe of years in prison?
What was 15 years
when you're not even 20 yet?
We didn't reaIise. We didn't think
the system couId be that crueI
as to send schooIchiIdren to Robben IsIand.
You people always say you wan o go
and rain overseas.
Do now we're aking you overseas!
The isIand, it seemed to one,
was a very bIeak pIace.
You had a feeIing some are forsaken.
The waers jus seemed
o deepen ha impression.
We were toId in no uncertain terms
that you wiII be treated
Iike somebody without a name and were
reminded that here, you become a number.
You have to be an epitome of obedience
to the raciaIIy supreme master.
Come, don' be shy.
The coffee is geing cold.
You darkies look a bi hesian, or wha?
No enough pap and wors, hey?
Jus like in he old kraal, hey darkies?
...a home...
Welcome o Gevil's lsland.
We apologise for...
We don' undersand Afrikaans.
Then you're going o come shor because
here we don' use kaffir-alk.
We don' use kaffir-lover alk eiher...
...so say one more English word and
Warder Gelpor will break you...
Go you undersand me?
Ok hen.
Good.
Welcome...
Once again, l apologise if he meal ha
we have prepared is no o your ase...
...bu here on he island we enjoy
life's simple pleasures.
lf here is bird shi on your food, you will
eiher find food ha hasn' been shi on...
...or you mus learn o like shi.
Warder Gelpor is full of shi...
...bu we like him.
Righ, Warder Gelpor?
We know ha you hink you're going
o govern his counry one day.
Your Mr Mandela also hough
he same hing. Waned o be presiden.
Go you know where your Mr Mandela
is siing now?
He's siing on his arse over here in he
isolaion cells alking o he walls.
And you're never going o see him again.
Bu wha do l hear from Warder Grikus?
He says you don' even know how
o march wo by wo...
...he says ha you...
...looked like a bunch of chimpanzees when
you were climbing off our lile boa.
Go you know he sory of he hree
chimpanzees, hey?
Wans o proes...
Wans o sudy...
Wans o rule...
All you communiss and erroriss who
come visi us on he island...
...you all hink you are srong.
Bu do you know wha happens afer a
few years of breaking rocks?
The same as wha's going
o happen o you lo.
Before we are done wih you here...
before you leave here...
you will beg o shine my shoes...
Tha's no going o happen.
l will never happen.
Righ, fingerprins and ideniy cards...
...as quick as you can.
So it became very cIear
that if we were going to survive,
we would have o figh he noion
ha we were passive.
We had o show he auhoriies
ha we could organise ourselves
efficienly and wih discipline.
But it was tough, especiaIIy in the quarry.
During winter, sitting down,
breaking stones,
exposed to the freezing AtIantic sea spray,
is something that is very difficuIt
to erase from memory.
Sedick, for exampIe, stiII feeIs coId today.
It's an aImost pathoIogicaI refIex.
Come, come, come, ge up, ge up, move!
You are here o work, you're no
on vacaion, move move move.
Go l look like a radio? No,
hen move when l alk!
l wan you ou of my prison, now!
Move, move, move!
It was the same routine every day.
''Kom, kom, kom.''
Grab cIothes and shoes and out.
The probIem was you had to grab any two
shoes, whether they were the same feet
or differen sizes, whaever.
l'm a size 10.
-Wha is his?
-Dize 10. Easy, man.
You know wha, l've go wo lef fee here.
Come on, man, you're he clever one here,
how abou you organise me a righ foo?
l hink Blues has go hree 7 s over here.
Wha's wrong wih Blues? He's he only one
l know ha has hree shoes for wo fee.
Hey, gens, l'm going o find a 10.
Hey, seriously, and no a 7-10, a 10-10.
Line, sop!
No matter how hard they tried
to crush our spirit,
we were prepared to survive.
We were prepared and determined
to execute our StruggIe.
Line, move!
Hey, Tony, his could be a 10.
l'm sure if you asked Gelpor nicely,
maybe he...
Negotiating, you know,
came out of necessity.
You had o negoiae in order o make
sense of life on Robben lsland.
Come on, move. Why is his aking so long?
Pu some speed ino hose legs!
The bigges misake he auhoriies made
was o pu us all ogeher in ha
slae quarry in prison.
If they intended to break us in that way,
they achieved quite the opposite
because different peopIe with different ideas
cross-poIIinated ideas and thinkings.
And when I Iook back at it,
peopIe became much more stronger
in their convictions and persuasions
than they wouId otherwise have been.
Dep forward hose men who
have a driver's licence.
Come now, men!
Lovely, lovely, come here.
There are your cars...your speed machines.
And now?
You've go licences, don' you?
You're qualified.
Grive!
I remember one of the warders, he said,
here in he quarry
we are going o be worked o deah.
We are going o be desroyed.
He had a slogan for he quarry,
he said, ''Daar maak jy groot kIippe kIein
en kIein kIippe fyn''.
''There you wiII make big stones smaII
and smaII stones tiny. ''
l was very hard in he quarry,
breaking he slae, you know.
When we remember the quarry,
we see it as a pIace that unified us
as prisoners
and it aIso contributed in
unifying us as sportsmen.
Robben IsIand is remembered as
some kind of university.
And he sone quarry, we remember i
as a main audiorium of ha universiy.
It was a decision we made that there
we are not going to aIIow
our vision of ourseIves to be bIurred
by the vision the Prison Department
and the authorities had of us.
And ha made us demand, no concessions,
bu privileges in erms of heir own,
very own regulaions.
Mass murder everybody.
We could no jus spend
one idle momen behind he cells
so we ended up organising games.
Which we played ou of he sigh of warders.
Chess and cards,
which we made out of cardboards,
or draughts, which was made out of
pieces of soap or even wood.
And of course there was Iudo.
We'd draw the Iudo board on a bIanket
with a piece of soap,
which was jus as well.
Wha is his noise?
Go you hink his is a holiday resor?
Ge up, ge up, wha have you go here?
Wha do you have? Dhow me! Where is i?
Why are you geing up?
Wha is his?
Why is here a chess board here?
No more games!
Le his be a lesson.
No more games!
And keep quie!
And we enjoyed those games,
but this was not enough.
We needed somehing more physical.
Hey! Dhu up!
And suddenly, soccer was a passion.
It was aII we couId think about.
It was aII we wanted to do.
We made soccer baIIs with anything.
Pieces of rag, paper, anything.
For us youngsters, it became a crusade.
Now we would organise our guys
o go in delegaions,
we would go o he senior warder.
We requested our request for soccer
to be considered seriousIy.
And?
We reques he righ o play fooball
on weekends.
Dpor is no a righ.
l's a privilege.
Ou.
We reques he righ o play fooball
on weekends.
No!
Geclined.
-We reques he righ o play fooball...
-...fooball on weekends.
Nee.
-We reques...
-...he righ o play fooball...
-...on weekends.
-Nee.
-We reques...
-Nee.
-The righ o play fooball...
-Nee.
...play fooball on weekends.
Uit!
We reques he righs o beer food.
-En?
-And we reques he righ
o play fooball on weekends.
No.
No. Ou. Ge ou.
We reques he righ o play...
Yes, yes, yes he righ o play fooball...
On weekends.
When he hell else would you play fooball?
Go you hink his a damned social club?
Of course on bloody weekends!
Ou.
Ge ou.
Nex.
-Naidoo, is somebody sill waiing ouside?
-No.
l says here one ime soccer ball
o be bough wih...
Wha's his word here, Naidoo?
Funds, sir, o be bough wih funds.
l'm alking o Naidoo.
When l'm alking o you,
hen you can answer.
Bough wih funds donaed
by he following players.
For a bunch of communiss,
you boys are quie flush wih cash, hey?
Tha 20c a monh you pay us
for breaking rocks can add up.
Naidoo, are you being funny?
Go you wan o make jokes?
Hey? Go you wan o...
come hen, make jokes...
Le's see if you're sill so funny once l've
chucked your ass ino soliary confinemen
for hree monhs.
The chaps simply wan a ball.
A proper ki, as soon as he guys
can organise he funds.
Moseneke, if he CO les you play,
and he's no going o le you play...
You boys are going o break -
you will suffer. You are oo weak.
You people are lile
piccanin scarecrows already.
Thank you, sir.
Boss!
lf you coninue o ask me
for his bloody supid hing,
you bloody learn o call me ''Baas.''
-Undersand?
-Yes.
Now ge ou.
Well, we had o show ha our approach was
indeed a very, very serious one.
Once we go going i also
gave rise o wha l would call a unied fron
ha cu across pary poliical lines
and across all age groups.
It was that united front
that the authorities couId not ignore.
And it was a reaIIy very powerfuI
instrument for us to get things going.
Go you hear wha hey are asking, Fourie?
Go you even read hese hings?
These guys are obsessed wih heir soccer.
Like lile kids.
Bu does Capain hink...?
They are dying in he quarry. How long do
you hink hey'll las?
Come on, Fourie,
we are no unreasonable men.
Give hem heir damned soccer.
They're asking so nicely!
We will invie he Red Cross o come
and observe he whole hing.
Afer all hey like soccer in Dwizerland,
don' hey Fourie?
l couldn' say Capain.
Well l know hey like chocolaes.
Do we'll give he geezer from Geneva a
few chocolaes, and a soccer mach.
Bu find a few guys who look a lile
muscular, okay? Healhy.
And speaking of healhy...
...his plan looks a lile ragic,
no so Fourie?
Yes Capain.
Bu can l ask Capain wha...
Fourie...
ln wo weeks...
...hree...
hey'll be exhaused...
...and his whole hing will be forgoen.
And insis ha we keep conrol of i.
We are giving i o hem, undersand?
They're no aking i from us...
ha's how i works.
Do Capain's answer is...?
Yes Fourie...
...my answer is yes.
Le hem build heir field and le hem play.
It was amazing.
In 1967, four years after arriving
on Robben IsIand,
we began to pIay soccer
on a smaII, makeshift fieId,
just outside our communaI ceIIs.
Everybody waned o play fooball.
He ook he line, come on Lizo.
As a person who came from
he Easern Cape, i was foreign o me,
because l played rugby and cricke.
And when his soccer
was inroduced on he island,
hose who inroduced i
were willing o each us.
Righ, ke madoda, here we go,
i's on he ches, i goes down.
-Conrol i and kick.
-For sure.
Good. Tony.
All righ, all righ, gens, Alfred, you ready?
Anthony Suze was one of
those soccer fanatics.
He Ioved soccer, he was a hard kicker
and we even nicknamed him...
Which means, ''Move, l'm going o kick!''
Here we go. There! Almos here!
Nice ry, Alfred, nice ry.
-Marcus, you ready?
-For sure.
All righ, le's do his.
Okay, we'll work on ha.
We'll have o work on ha.
-We'll have o work on ha. Lizo?
-Dharp.
-All righ.
-Okay. Le's go.
Hey, i's rugby, Tony.
Hey, gens, l hink we found our goalkeeper.
-Hey!
-Goalkeeper!
There was selflessness in he eaching,
of course,
but it was not aIways about being seIfIess.
Those guys that I taught about soccer,
I taught because I wanted the best pIayers
on my team.
I wanted to win.
Lizo, here.
-Dorry. Dorry.
-Pro.
Alfred, Alfred!
-Come guys, le's keep i moving.
-Uneachable!
l couldn' believe i.
You know Dedick is a scienis?
And l asked him, l said,
''You, a physicis, you know all abou
''forces and veIocity and stuff Iike that.
And so why can't you just kick that baII?''
This is...no, no, no, Gick...Pro, he ball.
Lisen o me
l wan you o go and sand over here.
-Over here, okay.
-Lizo.
Okay. Lizo...
Now Lizo, he was different,
even though he was a rugby pIayer.
Okay, now when Lizo passes me he ball,
you are going o run.
Firs ouch you ge on he ball,
you srike i ino he ne.
No, l don' hink l can do ha, hey.
Gick, don' hink. Jus lisen o me.
Firs srike you ge on he ball,
you hi i ino he ne. Okay?
Head down, weigh going forward,
-kick under he ball.
-Ready?
Dorry, sorry, sorry. Dorry.
-l'll ry i again. Okay, okay.
-Yeah.
-l'll ry i again.
-Eye on he ball.
Eye on he ball. Okay, ready, ready.
Jus give he ohers a chance raher, man,
l'll jus si over here.
No, no, no, no,
you're doing very nicely here.
Lizo, don' lie o he man.
He's no doing nicely a all,
he's he wors fooball player in he world.
Tony, i's difficul when you don' come
from a spors background.
Hey, hey, l come from a spors background.
-Wha spors?
-Dwimming is big in our family.
Dwimming, Gick, swimming!
Tha's one spor ha's no going o ge
encouraged here, wena,
he five-mile freesyle o Cape Town, huh?
No, no, Gick, come on, again.
He was helpless.
You know, thank God for soccer.
When I first arrived
and saw my dear friend, Bennie NtweIe,
Iooking Iike skin and bones
in just a few weeks on the isIand,
I thought I wouId die here,
but soccer was our saIvation.
And it was driven by peopIe Iike Pro MaIepe.
Pro was a diamond. He was fas.
He was srong, he was fi.
He was known as Pro because
he was already a professional player
from Pretoria and he was aIIocated
the task of training the rugby pIayers
and the non-soccer pIayers to prepare them
with basic skiIIs.
He didn't know when to stop.
When Pro trains, he just goes
on and on and on
and it's up, up, up,
if it's down, it's down, down, down,
but he never knows when to stop.
l need you o be saving goals,
no creaing hem.
Keep your fee on he ground.
Come on, le's go.
Come, l'm couning.
One! Two! Three!
Genlemen, his is he man
you should be looking up o.
Freddie Dimons is a specimen
of my good work.
l's passion, i's commimen, i's power.
l love i.
You're going o kill yourselves.
You're going o go down.
Morning, Dir.
Gon' you bloody
''Good Morning'' me, Malepe.
l's a shi morning.
Why is ha?
Promoions...
...all of hem.
Every damned one of hem.
And no you, Mr Gelpor?
And no bloody me.
The English call i ''passed over.''
Pass over.
Go l look like a bloody Jew, ha l
migh enjoy Passover?
Tha is no righ.
No, i's no righ.
You're a good guard.
Mr Gelpor, an excellen officer,
you're always here in he rain wih us.
Very duiful.
Yes, always.
Bu ha is he problem, Mr Gelpor.
How's ha?
Why is i you ha is sanding in he rain
and hey all ge promoions and you don'?
l's...
l's because hey're using you.
They do no respec you.
Even hough you work hard
and you're an excellen officer.
They rea you like us.
Like a...like sor of...
Like less han a human being.
You mus figh your case.
You mus wrie a leer.
l don' know how o wrie such a leer.
Maybe we can help you.
DeIport, who was so vioIent and so mean,
eventuaIIy became our aIIy.
He joined our cIasses
and we heIped him with his studies.
And sIowIy DeIport become more human
and DeIport became a different person,
and finaIIy, he passed his subjects
and he was promoted.
''Things change...''
Many of he warders loved o wach us play
because we creaed
grea specaor spor for hem.
Come, come, come, you men mus work...
Look lively wih ha wheelbarrow...
l wan o build!
Move i, sackers!
Hey, hey! You see ha aeroplane?
Tha's a whie man flying here,
flying in he sky.
And you can' even
push a wheelbarrow sraigh.
Hey, don' urn your back on me, boetie.
When l'm alking o you,
you pay aenion, okay?
Hey, Jaco.
The Old Man's looking for you...
...sounds urgen.
You'd beer move i.
Do, who's in he saring 1 1 on Daurday?
We're playing agains he Bucs, aren' we?
We're going o crush hem.
Ja, Dhinners beer have his boos
on his weekend.
Malan, leave ha prisoner alone.
Ge away here, he has work o do.
Bes hurry...
There were warders
who were very fond of us,
there were warders
who actuaIIy were our fans.
There was his warder,
''Maxolo'' Dmih we called him,
who could come and open up every ime
l waned o go and play.
Bu here was always a degree of ension
because i ook us years
to break down the barriers,
but most importantIy of course,
it took years to improve the situation
on the isIand.
You had those who were among them
who were very IoneIy.
They had cases where warders
committed suicide,
where young men just put that rifIe
on the chest and puIIed the trigger.
We decided to organise soccer
in a much more conscious way.
We wanted to pIay
competitive soccer so that,
if there are cIubs, the one cIub can pIan
and the other cIub can then try and defend.
We wan o se up
a FlFA ype of associaion.
We waned compeiion,
and in ha compeiion
we are going o creae ineres,
and ha is why soccer for us
had to be introduced
very, very systematicaIIy and carefuIIy.
l undersand, Tony,
bu wha l am rying o say is ha
he chaps can be quie regimened.
You know l can play wih anybody,
bu oher men are saying ''uh-huh''.
They say a lo of hings, Mark,
and ha's he problem.
Everybody is saying somehing,
bu who's doing? Who is engaging?
Carefully, discussion, negoiaion,
i's no jus alk.
Yes, bu you see hem, l mean, you see
hese chaps who always alk abou
a unied fron or hese games serving
fooball insead of poliics,
and wha do hey do he momen we sar
picking sides?
ANC on his side, PAC on ha side. Hey?
Righ from he beginning,
l was agains picking eams
according o poliical organisaions.
Tony, i's more complicaed han ha.
You know ha.
Fooball is never jus fooball.
Hey, l don' know wha game
you've been playing, Mark,
bu when l'm playing fooball,
ha is wha l'm doing
and l'm doing i properly.
Bu everyhing ha we do here,
we do i properly.
-You don' have o ell me.
-Bu l do.
We mus keep on saying i.
We mus keep repeaing i.
l's very easy in his place o rerea ino...
l mean, how would you pu i,
''ino familiar hings''?
Like hese safe poliical srucures?
We canno discriminae along pary lines.
Go l hear i righ ha you've pu
a clause of non-discriminaion
in he Manong consiuion?
Exacly righ.
Today Manong, omorrow
he Makana Fooball Associaion,
and nex year FlFA.
lf we're going o do his,
we're going o do i righ.
And ha's he FlFA way, or no way a all.
Tha is why l recruied Lizo,
an African Naional Congress member,
into my team, Manong,
which was predominantIy
a Pan-Africanist Congress members cIub.
Our moo was ''A lapile'', which lierally
mean ''The vulures are hungry''.
We stood for soccer and not poIitics.
Our team's aims were very cIear.
One, to promote and demonstrate soccer.
Two, to spread sportsmanship
and comradeship on the isIand.
The third one was to ensure that
every abIe-bodied person
was taught soccer on the isIand.
Penaly! Penaly! Penaly! Penaly!
They're no geing ha ired any more.
You know, l'm seeing a seady
improvemen in our play, Marcus.
For one, beer discipline from he players,
and for wo, you know,
beer coaching mehods
are being employed. l'm really happy.
Pass he ball!
You have o admi, n Sedick,
he sandard of play is now really good.
Absoluely. And i's also having
a remendous impac on our morale.
Through footbaII, we couId reaIise
and make a statement
abou our humaniy, abou ourselves.
l's for enjoymen, i's for relaxaion.
l is for fun, i is o give
an opporuniy for people
to get away from the hardships
of the present.
We worked hard to keep footbaII together.
Tha Duze basard can play.
Hey, Duze!
l don' hink l'd be wrong if l say
soccer saved many of us on the isIand.
lndres Naidoo and Dedick lsaacs
were our adminisraors.
They could no play very well,
but they were very good administrators.
You know, when peopIe see that reams
and reams of minutes and notes we kept,
they might find it strange
that we created such a Iarge bureaucracy
of our sport
and our associations there on the isIand.
But that's the way we fought the StruggIe.
Tha was he sysem we came ou of.
Wha we did, we did properly, horoughly,
and we applied ha on our spor.
Sunday to Wednesday to do post-mortem.
Wednesday we're pIanning for Saturday
and if perchance here were delays,
if for some reason,
he warder did no urn up on ime,
we wouId end up fiIIed with anxiety.
Hey, hey, wha's all his?
Ah, Mr Malan, you know we only have
from 9:00 unil 1 1 :00.
l'm sure i's abou 9:15 now.
l's jus five pas.
We can' run our prison according o
your sporing imeables, hey, Dhinners?
Eish, Warder Malan,
i's jus ha we don' have a lo of ime.
You've go fifeen years, Dioo!
You've go pleny of ime.
Dwar says las week
you didn' play oally crap.
Gid you wach?
No.
Are you going o wach now?
Come people!
Move i!
Your five minues will become en,
hen you're going o file a complain
agains us...
...hen we'll have o si wih Gelpor in
he quarry, because you waned o chi cha.
Come on, le's go!
Warder Malan is now speaking Xhosa?
Hey, Wena, l wonder wha Warder Gelpor
would say, Warder Malan?
Dilence!
Ja, ha is exacly wha he would say.
PIaying footbaII was the onIy time
we were out in the open,
away from the ceIIs
and not doing any hard work of the quarry.
It was so wonderfuI to feeI the sun on you
whiIe you were enjoying soccer.
It brightened us.
Why did l ge a yellow card?
We boh wen for he ball.
Mr Maseko, he Makana Fooball
Associaion Gisciplinary Commiee
has reviewed your case
and we came o his conclusion.
l was a 50-50 siuaion
and you boh wen for he ball.
Bu you, on he oher hand,
deliberaely showed your suds
across he face of he ball,
inending o harm he oher player.
Tha's why you go he yellow card.
Your complain is overruled, Mr Maseko.
Thank you very much.
You may leave he cell.
Gid you ge ha down?
Gefence!
Pass he ball, man!
And then they sent warders
to the mainIand to buy our soccer kit
and we finaIIy got coIour into the game
and into our Iives.
You know, the uniform of a prisoner
is monotonous.
It's the same aII over and aII over,
but now putting something different
wouId pIace us
to a greater extent,
you know, to think that we are outside,
enjoying ourselves ouside prison.
Makana FootbaII Association
was named after the Xhosa chief,
a warrior, who was arrested by the British.
He was taken to the isIand.
He aemped o escape.
He died whils doing ha.
And we honoured him
by naming our Association after him.
This Makana Fooball Associaion,
i was a big hing.
We had over 200 guys pIaying.
For exampIe, there were three teams.
There was the A, B and C.
The A eam was for he op players, whereas
your C eam would be for he real amaeurs,
guys like Dedick, for example.
The A division had three teams.
The B division had three teams.
And the C division had two teams.
The A eams needed chairmen,
and they got the chairmen.
The crieria we had was no he abiliy
o speak refined English,
or a sense of formaI education,
but what we needed was the abiIity to Iead.
The A chairmen were going o be led
by one single chairman,
he Makana Fooball Associaion chairman.
And the guy they eventuaIIy chose,
was a unifying guy, a caIm guy,
a guy ha could debae issues.
He had a fanasic grasp
of he rules of soccer.
Dikgang Moseneke,
I think he was 16 years
when he came to the isIand.
Today, he is he Gepuy Chief Jusice
of Douh Africa.
Yeah, we demanded
o be given a bigger field
where we were going o play our spor.
Regulaion size, o FlFA requiremens.
And so, in 1969, we moved to our new fieId.
WeII, Harry GwaIa was a prominent member
of the Communist Party of South Africa,
but he aIso had
a very deep understanding of sports
in what was known as the SociaIist BIoc,
especiaIIy soccer.
He would know he names
of all he grea soccer players.
Moscow Gynamos, which was
he famous Russian eam.
He was also very sric on he field.
l was no easy for him
o change his decision.
Welcome, genlemen. Firs on our agenda
is a repor back from Marcus Dolomon.
Bu firs he will ake us hrough
maers arising from Daurday's mach.
Oh, he has also advised me ha he would
like o ackle a very imporan issue
before he reads he repor.
Wih your permission, genlemen?
-Yes, sure.
-Marcus, please.
Thank you, Chairman Gwala.
No, i's jus ha, how can l pu i,
we are all players from ime o ime.
We are no only referees.
We know how i is.
There are passions, healhy passions.
Bu l know l've said his before,
and please forgive me
if l'm flogging a dead horse,
bu we canno allow rough play.
Wha?
Makana Fooball Associaion,
draw for Daurday, he 1 4h May, 1970.
Black Eagles versus Gynaspurs,
your referee is Mr Harry Gwala.
Finally, we've go he Dilver Dars
versus Rangers, referee Mr D. Govender.
Linesmen will be Mr Njama, Mr Kunene,
Mr Dingh and Mr Radebe.
Look, can' we have Mr...
The League log laes poins.
l don' wan o hear i, Mr Duze.
l ruled according o wha l saw
in he field of play.
Field of play, wha field of play,
on which field of play were you on
-when ha happened?
-Tony, if you have any complains,
-use he official channels.
-Official channels?
Go you wan o know wha you can do
wih your official channels?
l'll ell you wha you can do,
you can ake your official channels,
file hem, in riplicae for all l care!
Righ is righ
and wrong is wrong, Mr Referee,
and in his case,
l am righ and you are wrong!
Presenaion o he B Givision champions!
-Well done, sir.
-Well played.
B Givision champions!
We had fans, we had banners,
we had logos, we had everyhing.
Spectators were fanatics, you know,
they were... They Ioved soccer.
They tended now to own the sport itseIf.
A chap Iike BIues,
and there was another one Iike Baartman.
For my sake, Mark, win i for me!
lf you can' win i for your capain,
hen hink of Baarman,
who cries every ime when you lose!
l hurs me. Please, l'm begging you.
l don' wan hose oher guys o win.
You're my only hope, my heroes,
my supersars!
Gefence!
Gick! Hey, Gick!
They promised me
hey're going o win i for Baarman!
They swore!
Leave ha Blues maniac alone
and figh wih he real man.
A real soccer man!
lsaacs! Dedick lsaacs!
-Wha is i, Blues, l can hear you!
-l call you ou.
Wha? Hey, Blues, you a crazy man.
Here l am.
-You sill suppor he losing eam.
-Today, Gick, oday is oday!
-Wha day, Blues?
-Today's he day ha you die!
Hey, you said ha hree weeks ago!
ls ha he day or is oday he day?
-You're confusing me.
-Today is he day ha you die.
Pass he ball!
Wow! l can' be.
-Look a ha!
-Yes!
-Look a ha!
-Yes, i is!
-Hey, hey! Mandela.
-And Waler Disulu!
-Ahmed Kahrada!
-l don' believe his!
No, no, no, no, no, no,
ha's no Kahrada and ha's no Mandela!
Tha's...Come, you're no supposed o
see ha, people! Move!
Power...is ours!
After that, we never saw the prisoners
from that section again.
They actuaIIy buiIt a waII between us
to keep them hidden away.
When we used o have regular meeings,
we had o pick sides.
And of course, there was a motto
that guided aII soccer on the isIand.
The motto of the Makana FootbaII
Association was ''Service before SeIf. ''
Genlemen, we have here he names
of he eam ha will be playing
he big mach on Daurday. Okay! Dhabalala.
When l played i was like l was home again.
l would ranspor you away from he island.
Chilewane, Kekane, Zwelendawu.
When we were toId that we were not going
to pIay in a particuIar weekend
we fel so bad.
l'm sorry for hose genlemen
ha didn' make i.
-We'll pracise hard his week wih Pro.
-l'm sorry.
As far as we were concerned,
a sociaIist society was one in which
all aspecs of your life had o be caered for.
Your mind, your body, your soul,
your spiri. And spors...
Playing spors, playing soccer was
a very imporan par
of ha inegraed, holisic approach o life.
For me i was very difficul
because l always waned o win.
And by now we were successfuIIy
administering and pIaying soccer ourseIves.
We had aIIowed no interference from
the authorities, and this made them mad!
It was one area on the isIand
in which we were sovereign,
and where we had controI over our Iives.
-Hey! Hey!
-Even when working in that terribIe quarry,
we found time to discuss soccer issues.
Like me compIaining
about seIecting the best teams,
and Pro's compIaints about training.
l ell you, man, hey're going o lose.
They're going o lose
because hey have go no samina,
because hey only wen o he bahroom
for 10 minues.
Ten minues!
You can' do anyhing in 10 minues.
l hough i was scheduled for half an hour?
No, i's 45 minues!
The upper body for fifeen minues
and hen he runk for fifeen minues.
-And running for fifeen minues, man.
-Do?
Wha is Pro complaining abou now?
He's angry ha Harry ook
mos of his raining ime
o give he guys anoher glimpse
behind he lron Curain.
Pro feels hey are
no going o be ready for he soccer.
Wha's Pro's feeling
abou Mbaha playing his week?
Marcus, i is very difficul.
Old Boos hasn' had a game in hree weeks.
Hey! Old Boos hasn' had
a game in hree weeks
because old Boos plays fooball
like a drunk.
And he is very unhappy abou no playing.
Yeah, well, l'm very unhappy abou i
when he does play.
They old me Boos wans o
lodge a complain wih he commiee
-if you play Pro again.
-Yeah, l know, l know.
The seIection process,
it was a heII of a process.
You want to pIay incIusive soccer.
You want to invoIve everybody.
Bu hen you know ha Daurday, he oher
eam is going o pick up heir bes players.
You sar wondering o say, ''Now, look man,
wha is imporan his week, you know?
''Talk o your guys, you know, hey should
ake i easy on socialism, you know,
''unil we've played our fooball
and hen hey can go back o heir agenda.''
There were clubs playing,
and a he end of he year,
in order o play wihin one anoher's clubs,
no playing agains one anoher,
hey creaed wha was called
''seleced sides.''
Mix he clubs up, and hose who played
wih one anoher,
now played agains one anoher
in heir new emporary club
and hey called i ''seleced sides.''
A side was picked on Robben lsland,
and hey named hemselves
he Alanic Raiders.
The Raiders were, almos by acciden,
a very, very srong side.
Drong soccer players like Duze,
and Bimos and Freddie Dimon.
And it was out of the whoIe discourse
of incIusiveness on the one side
and a desire to win at aII costs, that
the incident of the AtIantic Raiders arose.
-Maybe we won' have...
-Dkull and Bones, gens, Alanic Raiders.
Young guys, fas guys, hard guys.
They've poached wo players from Manong.
The Bucs eam have los wo players.
People are saying hese Raiders play
only for pride, for vaniy.
Duze only plays for one hing
and ha's o win!
-Dkull and Bones forever.
-Enough wih ha nonsense now.
l know you gens. l know you,
you are Dilver Dars men and Manong men.
You're no secessionis hooligans!
Dop his nonsense now.
AtIantic Raiders, they were the eIite.
We were the eIite.
The best pIayers in the best team.
Deleced from across all he cells
in he island. We were he bes.
Alanic Raiders was jus a eam
ha had everyhing o do
wih he saus, you know.
Yeah, yeah, here were complains
and accusaions because we were he bes,
we were he sronges eam.
They were rocking he boa
righ from he sar.
The men waned o leave heir clubs
in order o join he Raiders.
We were good, man.
The Alanic Raiders was a op eam
and the BIue Rocks were right at the bottom.
It was a very poor team.
Go! Go! Go!
OId crocks, you know?
But everybody had to pIay
in the Makana FootbaII Association.
It was the ethos.
And so that's how it came naturaIIy
that these BIue Rocks,
hese old guys, hese crocks,
had o play Alanic Raiders.
l was always going o be a massacre.
Massacre.
l don' know wha was heir preparaion
like before we played ha November.
But what I know that our preparation,
as aIways, was pretty intense.
Nice!
And hen he big day came.
I was reaIIy Iooking forward to that match.
You know, aIthough we were
poIiticaI prisoners,
we did not want poIitics to consume us.
We did seminars and poIiticaI discussions.
But then we aIso wanted some fun.
And pIaying BIue Rocks was
going to be great fun.
-Offside ref, offside.
-Play on! No offside! Play on!
He was oally offside. Toally.
l hink he even handled he ball.
Really, i's a ough experience,
going behind he ne
o go and collec a ball ha has been scored
agains you as a goalkeeper.
-A goal?
-How?
l's a goal. l am applying FlFA rules,
he goal sands.
Tha was clearly offside,
and wha abou he hand ball?
And wo bloody yards away
from he las fee.
-How can ha possibly...
-This is unaccepable!
l canno ref under hese condiions.
Harry Gwala is subborn.
-Where are you going?
-You are refereeing.
Where's he going? You're walking away.
Anhony Duze is subborn!
Tha's agains rules and you know i!
l was crazy bu we said, ''Le's jus
win his hing and ge back home.''
Pass he ball!
Move.
Come gens, come gens.
Pass he ball!
The oId crocks decided
to go and bIock the goaIs, you know.
Pass he ball, man.
Pass he ball, Freddie!
l wen on unil when i came clear ha
the pros, the Raiders camp, couId not score.
Blue Rocks! Blue Rocks! Blue Rocks!
Blue Rocks! Blue Rocks!
Blue Rocks! Blue Rocks!
Blue Rocks! Blue Rocks!
Blue Rocks! Blue Rocks!
The record book of course refleced
ha Blue Rocks had won he mach.
-l know, Tony, l saw i. Okay, l saw i.
-Jesus, Gick! Jesus! l mean, a complain.
A formal appeal or somehing.
Tha hing can' sand. l's a farce.
We will appeal immediaely. There are
various grounds we can appeal on.
-For insance, for sarers...
-The refereeing is a bloody joke.
-Yes.
-Tha's wha. Gick, you can' do ha.
You saw wha he did, he jus wen off
he field like ha. You can' do ha.
-Tha is agains FlFA regulaions, righ?
-l'm almos cerain i is, yeah.
How hen? Jesus, Gick, l mean
his hing is a knockou compeiion.
-But now, they couIdn't take it.
-We ge knocked ou...
Blame he referee, blame he linesman,
blame everyhing in he world, you know.
We appealed almos immediaely.
We threw the book at the MFA.
It was serious stuff.
We went there with our captain,
Freddie Simon,
our vice captain, Lucas MahIangu,
and we became very, very technicaI.
But Mr Isaacs, the executive committee
of the Makana FootbaII Association beIieves
that you have covered this territory aIready.
lf you had a complain, i behoves you
o make your proes immediaely afer
he irregulariy had been observed.
Once again, l'd like o refer you o
he consiuion
of he Makana Fooball Associaion,
secion 7C, page 9,
-where i clearly saes ha...
-Wih all due respec, Mr Decreary.
Wha we are saying, and no for
he firs ime in his meeing,
is ha we are aware of secion 7C.
Bu we find i problemaic.
The Oxford EngIish Dictionary defines
observe as ''become conscious of.''
The evens leading o our proes...
Mr lsaacs! Please do no ry
o diver his hearing wih sophisry.
l will no be oleraed.
Mr Decreary, l'm simply poining ou
ha he evens leading o our proes
are complex and require checking.
Will you concede ha?
-Go on.
-And because hey require checking
he process of becoming conscious
of hese evens,
ha is, observing hem,
has aken some ime,
which is why we are presening
our peiion of appeal
hrough he correc channels now.
-He allowed...
-Gown.
...ha rubbish hand-ball of a goal
and he jus walks off he field,
like a bloody chicken!
And he unceremoniously desered he field
afer allowing a goal which had
a elling effec on our morale.
And which arose from a malicious
applicaion of he conens
of he Referees' Charer. ln ligh of hese...
...horrible misakes, l kep on shouing,
Gick, l kep on shouing, ''Come on!
l mean, come on, are you blind?
''Can' you see?
Gon' you know wha a hand ball is?
''Gon' you know wha an offside is?''
Then, you know wha?
He hen reaced o he infringemen
of he associaion fooball rules wih mirh,
as if i was a joke.
This is fully couner o he spiri
and hisory of associaion fooball.
And i is also proof...
...ha all referees are
bloody nincompoops, yeah!
You ell hem, Gick, you ell hem.
Nincompoops.
We asked for a replay.
We asked for a change of he saus of
he game, anyhing, we fough very hard.
But sometimes I think we fought too hard.
It took five months to resoIve the
AtIantic Raiders-BIue Rocks demonstration.
We aIIowed due process to take pIace,
no matter how frustrating
the whoIe affair was.
And we wouId never have become
vioIent about it.
One of the cardinaI ruIes was never
to Iay hands on another poIiticaI prisoner,
and never give warders or guards
an excuse to intervene.
Duress. We'd make our case in such a way
that they had to Iisten.
Was it the right thing to do? It seemed Iike
the right thing to do at the time.
It seemed Iike the onIy thing to do.
Wha he bloody hell is going on here?
l'll bea you o a pulp.
When Makana FootbaII Association
stages a match,
we'll no allow hem o play.
We wen and squaed on he soccer field.
l's duress, Warder Gelpor.
Proes, Warder Gelpor.
You know abou proesing and wha
you believe in is due o you, no so?
You can' do ha here!
Freddie, Anhony, how long are you
going o lie here?
For as long as i akes o ge jusice.
Miser Makaleni.
This man belongs o your club.
Please, alk o him.
Yes.
This man belongs o my club, Manong.
...bu, he has forgoen his.
Now he hinks he is anoher kind of animal.
And now, gens, why such long faces?
A vulure mus fly high from ime o ime.
Tha is a poin of principle.
No, l do no see any vulure,
bu l see somehing
ha's lying fla on his belly on he ground.
Please, Anhony.
Your chairman is asking you.
No, no, no, Chairman.
l'm sorry, bu l'm drunk wih rebellion.
l is no proper. This hing is no proper!
Your moher raised a disgusing
screw-up of a child, or wha Duze?
Gon' you go any manners?
Uncivilised.
Tha's wha you are.
No respec for age.
No respec for spor.
Uncivilised.
This is your mess.
Play or cha, you have 45 minues.
No.
-And now?
-And now, we wai for jusice.
We were serious.
We were willing o push his proes.
To hell wih he consequences.
l's he principle. lf you're playing o FlFA
sandards, you canno jus suddenly say...
Wha abou he principle of comradeship?
Wha abou ha, Maxabane?
You guys have become
so obsessed wih winning.
l'm no obsessed wih anyhing.
Warder Malan,
give us a ''lile booser'' please man.
Hey, very nice.
Now go, please.
Careful, prisoner.
Jus now l'll oss his ''booser''
ino he ground, under my shoes...
and you...
l'll have you for calling me man
and no boss, hey.
And hen we will see who is ''going''
and who's no!
-l heard ha old guy in C2...
-Mpofu?
Mpofu, yeah.
He's go high blood pressure
because of his whole proes.
Everyone ges high blood pressure and
depression here. l's like ashma and TB.
Bu you can' ell me we're also
geing TB and depression
because of he Alanic Raiders.
Hey, guys, l don' like i. The whole
hing makes me very, very unhappy.
Wha is wrong, is seing down guidelines,
agreed o
in a democraic and organised way.
And hen changing hose guidelines
a he las minue?
Comrades, please.
Leave his hing ou on he soccer field,
or he disciplinary hearing where i belongs.
-Please, i is very disressing.
-Bu ha is he poin, comrade.
This is somehing ha affecs
every aspec of our lives.
-Do we have o ake posiion on...
-Enough!
Go no ell me wha o do. Leave i alone!
This is causing mayhem,
high blood pressure, you name i.
Those who are angry,
those who don't reIate,
they don't taIk to one another, and so forth.
Laughter, ridicuIe, turn to anger,
it turned to emotion,
it tended to divide us now.
l was serious. We couldn' accep he fac
ha we'd been beaen by his lousy side.
Genlemen.
l have here my repor on he aciviies of
our club, Gynaspurs Fooball Club,
over he period January o June, 197 1 .
And l had inended o read
he enire documen o you oday
before l make i available o you
for your perusal.
There are various adminisraive
improvemens l waned o share wih you.
And here are also players
whom we should single ou
as having improved dramaically
so far his year.
Bu righ now l hink l would like o sar
on he second page of my repor
wih an issue ha has been weighing
very heavily on all of us
and ha has cerainly depressed me
personally since i ook place.
Why do we play soccer?
Or any spor for ha maer?
Go we play o win? Do we can
say we hrashed such and such a club?
For poins, for diplomas and rophies?
No.
Le us remember ha our sporing aciviies
here on he island
are mean and aimed a making
our say here less unbearable
and less inolerable han i is.
Le us no allow hem o become he causes
of more frusraion, ension and discomfor
han hey already are.
Dome of us migh say,
''Noble ideals and big alk
''which have no bearing
on he real siuaion.''
l would like o answer hose people
wih a quesion.
lf we had no noble ideals,
would we have been here oday?
Do he guys appealed o us
hrough he commiee srucures.
They hreaened us in all kinds
of manners and ways.
They appealed o our senimens as poliical
prisoners, as sporsmen, as comrades.
l didn' work, bu you see,
he hing is we, as hings wen on,
we fel we had o back down.
We knew we had o back down.
l was becoming unpleasan for everybody.
And we waned o hrow in he owel,
bu we jus didn' know how.
Anhony, wha have you...
There was his old man
in my club, Makaleni.
He was he chairman of our club, Manong.
Makaleni was no a highly educaed person,
bu he was very ariculae
and a very good adminisraor.
And he undersood people.
And paricularly, he undersood
how o deal wih people's weaknesses.
And he knew my weakness.
Wha do you have o lose?
You've go nohing o lose.
-You can ell hese...
-Mnumzana, please.
l's an impossible posiion, i's impossible.
l only seems impossible
because you are so young, Anhony.
Bu humour a foolish old man like me
and lisen.
You've go nohing o lose.
You led hese men away.
Now lead hem back o us.
Yeah, yeah, bu, Mnumzana, i's no jus me.
There's a commiee even his, you know...
No, no. Find a way, find a soluion.
And lead hem back o us.
Lead, Anhony, don' jus play.
Lead, Anhony!
Where are you going, Anhony?
Back.
Because hey were good soccer players,
we needed hem.
Here, by he 1970s, l'd obviously
grown older, a lile slower also.
We coninued playing soccer, of course,
bu some, or a lo of us, had moved
into more senior administrative positions.
For insance, l'd become a soccer referee,
and had become par of my club execuive.
For us i was an era coming o an end.
There was, of course, sill a number of
hardcore lifers, bu hey were geing older.
For hose of us who arrived in he '60s,
we were being released.
l was quie somehing,
he idea of being free.
l was 19 when l go o he island.
And now l was in my mid-hiries.
Yeah, l hink, as l said, ironically, for me,
he saddes day was when l lef he island,
because l lef so many people.
Bu when we look back, l hink i was
a good experience, a very good experience.
My firs houghs were,
''Where am l going? Wha's i like?
''l'm used o where l am now
and l'm going o a new world alogeher.
''Am l going o fi?
''My family, who are hey any more?
Go hey sill know me?
''Go l sill know hem?
My friends, are hey sill alive?''
All hose hings wen hrough my mind
very quickly.
Today you find a Iot of peopIe taIk
about the suffering on Robben IsIand.
Yes, there was a Iot of suffering,
but I think there's too much focus on that.
And that sort of thing worries me.
The peopIe who reaIIy suffered, I beIieve,
were the famiIies we Ieft behind,
the wives and the chiIdren.
It was very, very, very emotionaI.
The idea of going into the ship and going
back to the mainIand and going home.
June '76, he sudens' uprising, righ?
Those are somehing ha were inspiring us.
They were making us more sronger.
And we feIt that Iiberation was just
very near.
Those were students,
they were Iike soIdiers in schooI uniforms.
They fought braveIy, you know,
against the poIice.
And they were arrested in droves
and were sent to the isIand.
Young peopIe who were coming in were
very enthusiastic footbaIIers themseIves.
Do hey needed no encouragemen
in erms of
keeping and adhering o he srucures
ha had been pu in place.
We feel quie pleased someimes
ha a leas we lef somehing
ha could guide people
or make people undersand
how we tried to Iive our Iives.
And I think, hopefuIIy,
that shouId be the sort of thing
that shouId get peopIe to understand
the way forward, in a sense.
One couId say that we passed on the baton,
we passed on the Iegacy to them,
we passed on the game.
l was more han a game.
The 2010 FIFA WorId Cup
wiII be organised in South Africa.