Copyright by Olusegun Obasa 2015 The Dissertation Committee for Olusegun Obasa Certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: Sports and the Modernity of Leisure in Nigeria: Stadium Space and the Symbolisms of Expressions, 1930-1980 Committee: Oloruntoyin O. Falola, Supervisor Juliet E. Walker James R. Denbow Joni. L. Jones Leonard N. Moore Ademola Omobewaji Dasylva Sports and the Modernity of Leisure in Nigeria: Stadium Space and the Symbolisms of Expressions, 1930-1980 by Olusegun Obasa, B.A.; MILD; M.A. Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Texas at Austin May 2015 Dedication To my parents, Joseph and Felicia Obasa; and to my daughter and friend, Oluwanifemi Obasa. Acknowledgements Graduate students in the cusp of a PhD often speak of debts of gratitude. For me, there is no way I can repay my debts to everyone who encouraged, supported, and assisted me in one way or another to accomplish this feat. I thank my siblings: Olugbenga, Olufunke, and Olufunmilayo; they were always there to support me. Thanks to Professor Toyin Falola not just for recognizing that I had the potential to complete a project like this, but also for accommodation, patience and support beyond measure. I also thank Dr. and Mrs. Tunde Akindele and Adebukola Salawu-Ajani. Over the course of graduate school a cadre of friends and colleagues offered invaluable support and solidarity: Kwame Essien, Saheed Aderinto, Sylvester Gundona, Tosin Abiodun (now Asoro), Lady Jane Acquah, Abimbola Adunni Adelakun, and Daniel and Eva Kahozi. Lastly, I would like to thank Olusegun Oduye, Bisi Akinbode and Josephine Efua Diaz for standing by me in my darkest hours. I cannot thank all of you well enough, and I appreciate your support from the depths of my heart. May God reward you and your families abundantly. v Abstract Sports and the Modernity of Leisure in Nigeria: Stadium Space and the Symbolisms of Expressions, 1930-1980 Olusegun Obasa, PhD The University of Texas at Austin, 2015 Supervisor: Oloruntoyin O. Falola It is well-documented that sports appropriation is universal, though the degree varies from place to place.1 The emergence of sports in Nigeria provides insights into evolving construction of ethnicity, class, and gender, while simultaneously speaking to local ideas about identity and modernity. For many in Africa, sports clearly represent a passion and pleasure.2 Two overarching questions guide this dissertation: why were Western sports introduced to Nigeria by the colonial government and missionaries? What role did sports play in processes of identity creation, urban development and modernization in Nigeria? These questions establish the human agency involved within the creation of sporting activities and allow room for the motivations of actors. 1 John Nauright, “Global Games: Culture, Political Economy and Sport in the Globalized World of the 21st Century,” Third World Quarterly, 25(2004):1325-1336. 2 Suleyol Mngerem, “Football as a metaphor for Nigeria’s unity,” The Guardian, February 5, 2000, 57. vi I answer these questions by examining the broad significance of sports in Nigeria through the stadium. The debates over stadium construction in advance of Nigeria’s independence revealed the ways in which sports critically shaped the conceptions of urban planning and national health in the nation. Although fifty years will be covered here, I focus more on the 1960 to 1980 period in accordance with this dissertation’s emphasis on stadium space and the modernity of leisure. This work shows how spectators used the stadium to construct patronage networks and alliances, and how the government used the stadium as a mobilizing force to legitimize their activities at the grassroots and national levels. In this dissertation, I read the stadium as a representation of power, authority and discipline—the work of architects, politicians, bureaucrats, journalists, and sports officials—and as a venue of lived experiences of spectators, who redefined the stadium in terms that, while not always their own choosing, demonstrated the incorporation of the stadium into everyday life and processes of identity formation in Nigeria. I argue that sports, and the spaces in which they unfolded, dramatically shaped society, politics and culture in Nigeria. I argue that through sport competitions, Nigeria became fixed in the national consciousness as modern. vii Table of Contents List of Figures ........................................................................................................ ix INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................1 CHAPTER 1: Leisure and the Colonial Encounter ..............................................15 CHAPTER 2: Stadium, Spectatorship, and Regional Identities in the First Republic .......................................................................................................................80 CHAPTER 3: Crowd Control: Transforming Spectatorship In a New Nation ...128 CHAPTER 4: The Challenge Cup, the Stadium, and the Construction of Identities .....................................................................................................................158 CHAPTER 5: “This Stadium brings All of Us Together”: Stadium as the Theater of Dreams ........................................................................................................238 Conclusion ...........................................................................................................266 Bibliography ........................................................................................................274 viii List of Figures Figure 1: Challenge Cup Winners from 1945 to 1980 ........................................217 Figure 2: Source: Second All-Africa Games Report, Lagos, Nigeria (Jan. 7-18, 1973), 112. ......................................................................................254 Figure 3: Foundation Stone of the Liberty Stadium, Ibadan (photograph by the author). ............................................................................................267 Figure 4: Main Bowl, Liberty Stadium, Ibadan (photograph by the author). .....268 Figure 5: Olympic swimming pool of the Liberty Stadium, Ibadan (photograph by the author). ......................................................................................269 ix INTRODUCTION “The important thing in sport is not so much about being victorious as taking part. The important thing in life is not the triumph, but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered, but to have fought well.” That is the inscription on the commemorative plaque unveiled by the Premier of the Western Region, Chief the Honourable Obafemi Awolowo at the official opening of the Liberty Stadium on Friday, September 30, 1960. The idea of building this stadium was conceived in January 1958 as part of Nigeria’s march towards independence.3 The stadium featured a 545-meter track, and was surrounded by grandstands that could (in theory, at least) accommodate 45,000 people—35,000 seated and 10,000 standing.4 The opening ceremony of the stadium reinforced the perception that the Liberty Stadium was a “spectacular” stadium. During the festivities, student-athletes, mostly from the Western Region, paraded on the track and assembled in front of the grandstand, where official dignitaries such as Governor-General Nnamdi Azikiwe (he later became the first President of Nigeria when Nigeria became a republic in 1963), Chief Obafemi Awolowo the former Premier, and Chief S.L. Akintola the new Premier of the Western Region.5 Not only did the proponents of the Liberty Stadium suggest that the young nation of Nigeria needed the stadium to symbolically demonstrate its modernity, they also claimed that a stadium was the first step towards a coherent policy of building sports facilities for 3 Daily Service, “Liberty Stadium: Sport Centre of Western Nigeria,” March 11, 1959, 10. 4 This was a vague estimate, as the sports press and even the builders of the stadium had little concrete idea of how many people it would actually accommodate. Estimates ranged in the press from 25,000 to 45,000. 5 Nigerian Tribune “Liberty Stadium Opens with Pomp and Fanfare,” October 1, 1960, 12. 1 the youth of Nigeria. Finally, they argued that spectators in attendance would be inspired to take up sport themselves after having witnessed great athletes in competition. The Stadium Manager maintained that the Liberty Stadium was necessary to “bring the masses to sports.”6 The effort of the Western Region Government to intervene in the urban landscape to create spaces for leisure or physical fitness and the building of the stadium shows the profound influence and visibility of sports and its spaces in the newly-independent country. While Nigeria, for instance, may have lacked the monumental stadiums built in Europe and America in the 1960s, the debates over stadium construction in advance of Nigeria’s independence revealed the ways in which sports critically shaped the conceptions of urban planning and national health in the the nation. Although fifty years will be covered here, I focus more on the 1960 to 1980 period in accordance with this dissertation’s emphasis on stadium space and the modernity of leisure. Stadiums in Nigeria fostered a spectacular brand of mass politics that paralleled yet diverged