From J.J. ‘Boerjong’ Kotze to Hansie Cronje: Afrikaners and cricket in twentieth-century South Africa – diffusion and representation
This essay briefly traces the trajectory of late-nineteenth-century Afrikaner involvement in cricket. It then examines in greater depth the circumstances which during the first half of the twentieth century militated against the game developing a mass appeal among Afrikaners. The situation changed gradually with Afrikaner ascent to political power in 1948, and especially markedly different socio-economic prosperity during the 1960s, which contributed to cultural shifts and facilitated greater Afrikaner involvement in the game. The essay concludes with an assessment of the complex ways in which presumed Afrikaner identities played themselves out in the post-apartheid international sporting arena.