環(huán)球英語 — 684：Football on Robben Island - Part One

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Voice 1

Hello and welcome to Spotlight. I’m Robin Basselin.

Voice 2

And I’m Steve Myersco. This programme uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.

Voice 1

Football is a game loved by people all over the world. Playing football is a way to have fun and exercise. But for a small group of prisoners forty years ago, it was a lot more than that. For these men, football gave them hope and joy. It was a taste of freedom. It became the most important thing in their lives. Some of these football players later became the leaders of their country. Today’s Spotlight is the first of two programmes about football on Robben Island.

Voice 2

Robben Island is in South Africa. For many years in the twentieth century South Africa was governed by only white people. And yet most people in the country were black. Black people were given fewer rights than white people. Many black people formed groups that acted against the government.

Voice 1

Many of the members of these groups were arrested by the police. And many of them were sent to the highest security prison in the country - Robben Island. The island became famous around the world. Many of the prisoners on the island were held there for political reasons.

Voice 2

Life on Robben Island was extremely difficult. The prisoners had very few rights. The prison authorities made them work very hard, and treated them very poorly. In the day prisoners would work in a quarry - digging out pieces of stone. Each of them had to dig out a particular amount of stone. If they did not dig enough then guards would punish them. Often the prisoners would be beaten. Prisoners spent much of their time feeling tired and hungry. The authorities gave them very basic food which only just kept them alive.

Voice 1

But the prisoners did not want this treatment to defeat them. Many of them were highly educated. Others had been leaders of political groups when they were free. They wanted to keep their minds alive. They knew that one day they would be free. When that day came, they hoped that many of them would be part of the new government. They wanted to be ready for this.

Voice 2

And so they decided to try to create a football competition. This could be the perfect solution for them. It would give them something to hope for, and something to work together to achieve. Playing football was something that nearly everyone would enjoy doing. But at that time the prisoners received only a short amount of free time out in the open air. It was hard to imagine that the prison guards would let them play. The prisoners needed to find a way to change the prison authority’s mind.

Voice 1

Every week the prison authority let the prisoners ask a question or make a comment about the prison. The prisoners of Robben Island decided they would use this chance. They knew that the prison guards would punish them for criticising the prison. So each week a different prisoner asked if they could play football. Each week the prison authority said ‘No’. And each week the prisoner who asked the question received punishment. This continued for three years.

Voice 2

The prisoners were also able to speak to members of The Red Cross. With the help of this international organisation the prisoners finally won the right to play football. After years of dreaming of football, the prisoners finally got what they wanted.

Voice 1

The prisoners enjoyed playing football. Every Saturday a few prisoners would be permitted to play football. The prison would be filled with excitement. The prison authorities were surprised. They thought that the prisoners would grow tired of football. The prisoners managed to negotiate with the guards for more time to play. The prisoners were also able to decide who was let out to play.

Voice 2

But soon, the prison authority began using the prisoners love of football as a new form of punishment. Some weeks the guards would suddenly say, “No football today”. There was nothing the prisoners could do. The guards were taking the gift of football away from them.

Voice 1

Then one week, the prison guards came to say that it was time to play football. But this time the prisoners did not move. They simply said, ‘No football today’. They told the prison authority that they would not play football if the guards continued to cancel it. They wanted full control of their games.

Voice 2

This was a difficult decision for the prisoners. For a full year they refused to play. But then a new team of guards took control of the prison. The prisoners believed that these guards would be more accepting of football. They were right, and so in June 1968, the prisoners of Robben Island began to play football again. It was victory!

Voice 1

The first thing the prisoners did was create a new football association - the Makana FA. They organised the football competition to involve as many prisoners as possible. Some men played, some cared for the football field, and some managed the teams. For many of the prisoners, football became the most important thing in their lives on the island. The Makana FA organised the competition extremely carefully. It wanted to make sure that all the footballers received fair treatment - something that rarely happened in prison.

Voice 2

In another programme we will tell how football united the prisoners on Robben Island, but also how it almost split the island in two. But today, we finish by hearing the opinion of one of the best footballers on the island. Tony Suze was the league’s top scorer in the first season of the competition. He described how much football meant to the prisoners on the island.

Voice 3

‘We played football on Robben Island with such excitement and care to detail. It was another way to survive. We were in a situation that tried to weaken us. But football gave us hope. Football is a game that people around the world play without thinking about it. It is amazing to think that this same game gave a group of prisoners mental health - and in some way it gave us glory.’