'Teach the native to play': social control and organized black sport on the Witwatersrand, 1920-1939

The present analysis constitutes an historical study in the geography of sport. Against a backcloth of burgeoning Black urbanization and of rising levels of unemployment, crime and political militancy, a concerted effort was initiated on the Witwatersrand to promote the growth of sport as a lever of social control. The actors and actions involved in the organization of Black sport on the Witwatersrand between 1920 and 1939 constitute the focus of discussion. The case illustrates that the geographical spread of sport is not merely the result of 'spontaneous diffusion' but may be the outcome of an organized diffusion with the explicit objective of social control.