integrationist intentions behind the 1956 and 1957 colonial sports law contrasted with the persisting local discrimination. The percentage of black members at sports clubs and associations in Mozambique decreased over time (table 2.1):
TABLE 2.1. Percentage of black members and mestiço members at sports clubs and associations in Mozambique, 1935–58
Source: Based on data from Anuário estatístico de Moçambique (1935–58)
On the other hand, the percentage of mestiços was stable over time. If we take into account that membership in all sports clubs increased significantly, we can conclude that the growth of sports associativism in the central areas of Lourenço Marques excluded the black population.167
During the discussion in the Conselho Legislativo on the creation of the Conselho Provincial de Educação Física (Provincial Council on Physical Education), the governor general of Mozambique pointed out that, although indígenas were not covered by the law, it was important to find solutions for their gradual integration within the sports field; this should be carried out with “a degree of flexibility, so as to allow for experimentation, trial, and error.”168 The uncontrolled consequences of the football market, which help create new African heroes, would put this “policy of flexibility” to the test, more so even than the state itself.
In 1957, when African players such as Matateu and Coluna were already showcasing their skills in the metropolis, Carreira de Tiro, an AFLM club, asked the newly created Conselho Provincial de Educação Física (Provincial Council on Physical Education) for information regarding the registration of indígena players. The CPEF was faced with questions for which the law had no answer. Tacitly legitimated by the social-organization model, racism in sport became a public matter only when those discriminated against belonged to a small African petite bourgeoisie with access to newspapers. Carreira de Tiro’s request triggered a decision-making process169 that revealed the nature of the strategies of euphemization that strove to conciliate persistent racist actions and policies with the new lusotropical face of Portuguese propaganda, as well as with the wider issue of urban social control.170 Under the cover of a discursive façade, state agents acted strategically, seeking to balance a politically correct rhetoric with the existing interests among the settler community.
The skewed rhetoric of Fernando Olavo Gouveia da Veiga (the CPEF’s president) as he strove to sum up the problem and produce doctrine, can be seen as a metaphor for Portugal’s colonial policy during this period. Racist policies were not inscribed in the law, since it did not distinguish between indígena and nonindígena players. The decision to employ them was left to the clubs. In Lourenço Marques, some did. The CPEF’s president pointed out the possible political gains in “integrating the indígenas.” To delay integration would have “harmful effects . . . in more advanced indígena circles, as sport is one of the main vehicles of passion, something that isn’t always easily controllable.” In line with the international image the country was trying to promote, discrimination was “contrary to the higher principles of our constitution, all the more so since it goes against our mentality and governing practices, guided by integration and assimilation principles.” Integration should not, however, upset “nonindígena circles,” which would only “reluctantly accept the random registration of indígenas as players for our own clubs and associations.” To reconcile the deep-seated local racism with the need to create laws that enabled the integration of indígenas, their sporting participation was legalized, although it was left “to the clubs’ judgment” the possibility of blocking the indígenas’ access, by invoking sports and associative internal regulations. This solution would be, the CPEF’s head concludes, “a demonstration, even within the international field, of a real indígena integration policy employed in our social system.” In a note in this same document, the SNI’s acting director agrees with the registration of certain elements, but adds that the registration of teams composed exclusively by indígenas should be studied with care.171
In 1959 the colonial administration decided to abolish the African Football Association,172 integrating some of its clubs in the AFLM’s third division, which had been created for this purpose.173 In the same year, African clubs had to remove from their statutes words that hinted at any type of racial discrimination, although terms like African had become commonplace and were employed consciously as a reaction to colonial racism.174 This integration strove to put an end to various situations that gradually revealed the hypocrisy of the Portuguese assimilation system.175 When, in 1959, the AFA clubs moved to AFLM’s third division, they did so under very specific circumstances. Matches were played in downtown pitches, which offered the best setting for the game, in the hours that remained free from matches involving clubs from the two upper divisions—in other words, almost always early in the morning. In the first year, the possibility of the third division’s champion moving to the upper division was not even considered. This situation would later be rectified.
Said Mogne, who started playing football in the AFA championship toward the end of 1940, made a link between these changes and transformations in the political situation:
The Associação Africana de Futebol was created with a specific intent, that of segregation. There was the Associação de Futebol Africana, on the one hand, and the Federação de Futebol de Lourenço Marques, on the other. There was no common ground between them. When the “smoke” of independence began to rise up then there was an effort toward approximation . . . and the idea emerged of, one way or the other, merging the two clubs. Those that had the good fortune of being integrated survived. . . . The question arises because of existing political pressure. There had to be a coming together because separation in the AFA was a racial issue.
In the 1960s, official statistics indicated a greater degree of inclusion of nonwhite members in Mozambican sports clubs and associations. Between 1959 and 1964 the number of black members of sports clubs and associations increased across the territory (table 2.2):
TABLE 2.2. Percentage of black members and mestiço members of sports clubs and associations in Mozambique and Lourenço Marques, 1959–64
Source: Based on data from Anuário estatístico de Moçambique (1959–64)
It is likely that these statistics included African clubs that had not been previously surveyed. The inclusion of their members in these figures puts the notion of openness in perspective.
THE INEFFICIENCY OF THE PHYSICAL EDUCATION MODEL
Even when it came to the segment of the population included in its activities—that is to say, the nonindígena population—Mocidade Portuguesa proved largely inoperative. Reports sent by its Comissariado Colonial (Colonial Commissariat) to the governor general between 1949 and 1951 reveal a difficult situation, characterized by an inability to act outside district capitals176 and by a permanent lack of funds, material, and employees.177 MP had to recruit specialized civilian teachers, even though these teachers and technicians often declined the post since they would earn less than what they received from the clubs.178 The development of official sports policies in the final period of Portuguese domination, given the lack of direct investment, depended on the income generated through sports competitions, such as the football championships. Part of the budget of Mozambique’s CPEF came from the Fundo de Expansão Desportiva (Sports Expansion Fund), whose revenue was gathered by collecting 5 percent of sports competitions’ ticket sales.179 In 1966 the introduction of a sports betting competition in the territory, Totobola,180
