Tennis, Apartheid and Social Justice

In 1971, the non-racial Southern African Lawn Tennis Union sent six promising young players on a historic tour to play tournaments in Europe. The team was known as the 'Dhiraj' squad, after national champion Jasmat Dhiraj. Apartheid South Africa in the 1970s was a racist and repressive society, based on white supremacy and privilege and black oppression. Black tennis players were denied proper facilities, coaching, opportunities to excel, and the chance to represent their country and play international tournaments. They could not belong to the same clubs as whites or compete in competitions with or against white players. Despite the barriers and constraints, many black sportspersons and sports administrators courageously and determinedly pursued the ideals of non-racialism in sport and in the wider society, often at great personal cost to themselves. Tennis, Apartheid and Social Justice records the political, social and sporting conditions associated with the 1971 tour, the adventures of the talented young black tennis players, the impact of the tour on them and the lessons learned. It documents the collusion of international tennis associations with the racist white-only South African tennis body that prevented a Dhiraj squad member, Hoosen Bobat, the opportunity to play in the Junior Wimbledon championships. The book contends that there has been neither recognition of nor reparations for outstanding apartheid-era black sportspersons and that the apartheid legacy continues to impinge powerfully on tennis today.

Saleem Badat is Research Professor in Humanities at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. He played tennis under the non-racial tennis bodies, and he was Natal junior tennis singles and double champion in 1972 and 1973. In 1973, he won Natal schools provincial colours. His books include The Forgotten People: Political Banishment under Apartheid; Black Man, You Are on Your Own; Black Student Politics, Higher Education and Apartheid; and a co-edited collection, Apartheid Education and Popular Struggles in South Africa.