Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-r5fsc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T16:29:05.447Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Win the match and vote for me: the politicisation of Ghana's Accra Hearts of Oak and Kumasi Asante Kotoko football clubs*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 February 2009

Kevin S. Fridy  and
Victor Brobbey
Kevin S. Fridy*
Affiliation:
Department of Government, University of Tampa, 401 W. Kennedy Blvd., Tampa, FL 33808, USA
Victor Brobbey*
Affiliation:
School of International Service, American University, 4400 Massachusetts Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20016, USA Ghana Center for Democratic Development, PO Box LG 404, Legon-Accra, Ghana
*
Email: [email protected]
Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

There is a common perception in Ghana that Accra Hearts of Oak is the soccer club of the National Democratic Congress, and Kumasi Asante Kotoko that of the New Patriotic Party. In this paper we explore the roots of these perceptions by examining the social history of these two clubs specifically, and the Ghanaian soccer league system in general, with an eye for the actors, practices and events that injected political airs into purportedly ‘apolitical’ athletic competitions. With this social history clearly defining the popularly perceived ‘us’ versus ‘them’ of the Hearts/Kotoko rivalry, we analyse on the basis of a modest survey some of the assumptions these widely held stereotypes rely upon. We find that ethnicity and location matter both in terms of predicting one's affinity for a given soccer club and partisan inclinations. These factors do not, however, completely dispel the relationship between sports and politics as spurious. Though not conclusive, there is enough evidence collected in the survey to suggest that one's preferred club, even when controlling for ethnicity and location, does have an effect on one's partisan leanings, or perhaps vice versa. This finding highlights the independent role that often-understudied cultural politics can play.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Modern African Studies , Volume 47 , Issue 1 , March 2009 , pp. 19 - 39
Copyright
Copyright © 2009 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

The authors thank H. Kwesi Prempeh, Peter von Doepp and the Journal of Modern African Studies' anonymous reviewers for helpful comments on earlier drafts. They also thank Pastor Isaac Yen (Nabdam), Charles Agyapong (Bantama), Addy Hussein (Odododiodio) and their field teams for assistance with the surveys, and editors Yaw Asare (Hearts News) and Ken Bediako (Kotoko Express) for their invaluable insights on football in Ghana.

References

REFERENCES

Accra Mail. 2001. ‘Hearts of Oak is not NDC – Tamakloe’, 18.5.2001.Google Scholar
Akyeampong, E. 2002. ‘Bukom and the social history of boxing in Accra: warfare and citizenship in precolonial Ga society’, The International Journal of African Historical Studies 35, 1: 39–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Alegi, P. 2004. Laduma! Soccer, politics and society in South Africa. Pietermaritzburg: University of KwaZulu-Natal Press.Google Scholar
Allman, J. M. 1990. ‘The youngmen and the porcupine: class, nationalism and Asante's struggle for self-determination, 1954–57’, Journal of African History 31, 2: 263–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Amoah, C. 1940. ‘You deserve praises “The Pride of Ashanti Kotoko”’, Ashanti Pioneer, 22.2.1940.Google Scholar
Armstrong, G. & Giulianotti, R.eds. 2001. Fear and Loathing in World Football. Oxford: Berg.Google Scholar
Armstrong, G. & Giulianotti, R.eds. 2004. Football in Africa: conflict, conciliation and community. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Asante Pioneer. 1940. ‘Standfast XI trounce Kumasi Ashanti Kotoko team’, 16.2.1940.Google Scholar
Ball, P. 2001. Morbo: the story of Spanish football. London: WSC Books.Google Scholar
Bediako, K. 1995. The National Soccer League of Ghana: the full story, 1956–1995. Accra: Buck Press.Google Scholar
Borquaye, S. 1968. The Saga of Accra Hearts of Oak Sporting Club. Accra: New Times Press.Google Scholar
Brooks, D. 2004. ‘Circling the wagons’, New York Times, 5.6.2004.Google Scholar
Buford, B. 1990. Among the Thugs: the experience, and the seduction, of crowd violence. New York: W. W. Norton.Google Scholar
Curtis, B. 2006. ‘Among the Brainiacs’, Slate.com, accessed 9.6.2006, <http://www.slate.com/id/2143321/>..>Google Scholar
Daily Graphic. 2004. ‘Editorial: poisoning football with politics’, 29.11.2004.Google Scholar
Darby, P. 2002. Africa, Football and FIFA. London: Frank Cass.Google Scholar
Effah, K. & Bediako, K.. 2004. The Titans: Kumasi Asante Kotoko versus Accra Hearts of Oak (1974–2004). Sekondi: Precise Print.Google Scholar
Evans, G.ed. 1999. The End of Class Politics? New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Finn, G. P. 2000. ‘Scottish myopia and global prejudices’, in Finn & Giulanotti, eds., Football Culture, 54–99.Google Scholar
Finn, G. P. & Giulianotti, R.eds. 2000. Football Culture. London: Frank Cass.Google Scholar
Foer, F. 2004. How Soccer Explains the World. New York: HarperCollins.Google Scholar
Fridy, K. S. 2007. ‘The elephant, umbrella, and quarrelling cocks: disaggregating partisanship in Ghana's Fourth Republic’, African Affairs 106, 423: 281–305.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ghana Center for Democratic Development (GCDD). 2001. ‘The stadium disaster and other fallouts’, Democracy Watch 2, 2 & 3: 4–5.Google Scholar
Ghana News Agency (GNA). 2005. ‘Ato Ahwoi, Atta Mills, relinquish shares in Hearts’, 27.11.2005.Google Scholar
Giulianotti, R. 1999. Football: a sociology of the global game. Cambridge: Polity Press.Google Scholar
Green, D. P., Palmquist, B. & Schickler, E.. 2002. Partisan Hearts and Minds. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Hornby, N. 1992. Fever Pitch. London: Gollancz.Google Scholar
Kiyaga-Mulindwa, D. 1980. ‘The “Akan” Problem’, Current Anthropology 21, 4: 503–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kodwo-Mensah, . 1967. ‘Tributes to Dr. J.B. Danquah’, The Legon Observer 2, 13: 15–16.Google Scholar
Kuper, S. 1994. Football Against the Enemy. London: Orion.Google Scholar
Lewis, M. 2003. Moneyball: the art of winning an unfair game. New York: W. W. Norton.Google Scholar
Lipset, S. M. & Rokkan, S.eds. 1967. Party Systems and Voter Alignments. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
McCaskie, T. C. 2007. ‘The life and afterlife of Yaa Asantewaa’, Africa 77, 2: 151–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Obeng, K. W. 2003. ‘A rally for the cameras’, Public Agenda, 8.5.2003.Google Scholar
Quarcoopome, S. S. 1992. ‘Urbanisation, land alienation and politics in Accra’, Institute of African Studies: Research Review 8, 1/2: 40–54.Google Scholar
Riordan, J. & Krüger, A.. 2003. European Cultures in Sport: examining the nations and regions. Bristol: Intellect Books.Google Scholar
Schatzberg, M. G. 2001. Political Legitimacy in Middle Africa: father, family, food. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
Versi, A. 1986. Football in Africa. London: Collins.Google Scholar
Wagg, S. 2004. British Football and Social Exclusion. London: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weiland, M. & Wilsey, S.eds. 2006. Thinking Fan's Guide to the World Cup. New York: HarperCollins.Google Scholar
West Africa. 1990. ‘Hearts court PNDC’, 19–25.3.1990: 472.Google Scholar