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‘LET US RALLY AROUND THE FLAG’: FOOTBALL, NATION-BUILDING, AND PAN-AFRICANISM IN KWAME NKRUMAH'S GHANA*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 July 2013

Paul Darby
Paul Darby*
Affiliation:
University of Ulster
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Abstract

The nationalistic fervour that greeted Ghana's performances in the 2010 football World Cup in South Africa powerfully evoked memories of an earlier period in the history of the Ghanaian state that witnessed Kwame Nkrumah, the first president of independent Ghana, draw on the game as a rallying point for nation-building and pan-African unity. This article uncovers this history by analysing Nkrumah's overt politicisation of football in the late colonial and immediate postcolonial periods. This study not only makes a novel contribution to the growing historical and social scientific literature on what is arguably Africa's most pervasive popular cultural form but also deepens our understanding of one of the continent's most significant political figures.

Keywords

Ghanasportsnationalismpan-Africanism
Type
Popular Politics in the 1960s and 1970s
Information
The Journal of African History , Volume 54 , Issue 2 , July 2013 , pp. 221 - 246
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

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Footnotes

*

I am grateful to the three anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments and constructive criticisms. Author's email: [email protected]

References

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57 The teams were Hearts of Oak and Great Olympics from Accra, Asante Kotoko and Cornerstones from Kumasi, Hasaacas and Eleven Wise from Sekondi, and Mysterious Dwarks and Venomous Vipers from Cape Coast. Ibid. The national league was complimented by the Aspro Cup, the first nation-wide knock out competition that was inaugurated in the same season. Kwateng, Asante Kotoko F. C.

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73 Evening News (Accra), 28 Jan. 1960. The placement was arranged during Fortuna Düsseldorf's three-match tour of Ghana in 1959.

74 Cited in ‘Africa kicks’.

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