Sport, Segregation and Space: The Historical Geography of Physical Recreation in the South African City of Pietermaritzburg

Using the city of Pietermaritzburg as a case study, sport is treated as a lens through which to view aspects of the political, social and economic history of Natal and South Africa. Successive, reinforcing ideologies of imperialism, segregation and apartheid created a system of inclusion and exclusion through which the cohesion of White society was promoted by regarding sport as a social service; while Black communities were largely ignored. The authorities in the main spurned the opportunity to uplift these communities through provision of facilities for healthy exercise. Instead, their main concern was territorial segregation to control behaviour and particular instrumental use was made of municipal beerhalls, a form of recreation that produced revenue for general administrative purposes. However, the ambiguities of group areas legislation in relation to social apartheid did eventually provide scope for resistance. From the 1960s onwards the struggle over recreational facilities was an important part of the anti-apartheid movement in Pietermaritzburg: through their campaigns non-racial sports organisations challenged plans for autonomous, racially defined suburbs and promoted the idea that the city was no longer the preserve of Whites.