Community-generated sport activity (bottom-up sport intiative): case of a village football team in rural Mpondoland (motivations for being players and the role of football in the community).

South Africa/ Noquekwana

30 players of the Noquekwana Football team

• 2010 World Cup in South Africa:
  • several events were concentrated in the main urban areas in South Africa;
  • no matches were held in the province of the Northern Cape
  • many parts of the country received little benefit from the World Cup.
• Colonialism:
  • Africa perceived as a place where ‘development’ can be established through external inputs.
  • Rarely local communities are seen/analysed from the inside
• Sport and development in the context of SA:
  • Most of sport-based interventions are externally introduced

• Logistical difficulties in reaching the soccer fields
• Informality of activities VS regularity of the play during time (meaningfulness of the activity for the community)
• Players engaged in the team since 3-12 years (affection and dedication of the players toward the team)
• Motivation: stay fit and healthy
• Passiveness of the team in solving team problems/ ask for external help in problem solving; dependent community

• To give more relevance to spontaneous practices instated of introducing something by the top
• The dependency of rural communities highlights the role of NGOs in supporting, empowering and emancipating them

Which are the challenges of the community you’re working with in terms of “passiveness” and “dendency”?

Which is the role of your organization for the community?