Football in Dar es Salaam: research proposal and preliminary findings

I’m currently undergoing a research project in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania’s largest city, looking at the city’s three biggest football clubs: Azam Football Club, Simba Sports Club and Young Africans Sports Club (known as “Yanga”). This research is concerned with contrasting the difference between the supporter owned, historic clubs Yanga and Simba, and the young, privately owned Azam football club. By talking with supporters, club members and those in charge, I hope to explore issues of privatisation and commercialisation in the beautiful game. Following Dubai’s article on the neoliberalisation of football (2010), this research is intended to contribute to the project of unsettling the hegemonic coherence of neoliberalisation, by locating specific sites spatially and temporally. The contrasting structures exhibited between these clubs in Dar es Salaam provide a specific locality in which these issues can be explored.

“Timu Bora, Bidhaa Bora” 

While browsing the Azam FC Instagram account, I came across a fan proudly holding up a scarf sporting the words “Timu bora, Bidhaa bora”, which in Kiswahili means “Better team, Better products”. Azam is a multi-national brand, producing everything from soft drinks to cement across East Africa. In his article, Dubai relates how supporters of football clubs across the world are negotiating the transformation from supporters into consumers which accompanies the privatisation of their clubs (ibid, 126), and with Azam FC the link between consumerism and football is made explicit, evident with this message written on the supporters scarf.

“Wanajitegea/ Wape sifa” 

In stark contrast to the privately owned Azam football club, which was founded in 2007, Yanga and Simba trace their roots back to 1935 and 1936 respectively, during British colonial rule. Despite their geographical proximity in Dar es Salaam, football supporters across the whole of Tanzanian’s dispersed population of roughly 50 million people can be divided into two camps: the green and red of Yanga and Simba. The historic rivalry between these two teams is well known and widely documented (see Tsurata, 2007), and both teams follow a supporter owned model. The contrast between the financial capability of these historic teams and Azam is significant: unlike their privately owned neighbours they do not have a stadium of their own, or even team buses. However, this stark contrast in financial resources does not produce negative feelings towards Azam, as supporters of both Yanga and Simba express respect for the manner in which Azam “wanajitegemea” (are self-reliant) and stress the point that “wape sifa” (they should be given praise).

Not only do supporters of Yanga and Simba have respect for Azam’s self-reliance, and ultimately their quick rise to success (they have in their short history become the main competition for Simba and Yanga, winning the league themselves in 2014), this view is also shared by those in the clubs management. When I spoke to the first president of Simba Evans Aveva, who was elected in 2014, he explained that Simba are hoping to follow the financial model of Azam which has resulted in their success (private conversation, 17 January 2017). Since this conversation I have heard rumours of a plan for a 51% majority takeover of Simba Sports Club by a wealthy businessman, and the fans I’ve spoken to so far seem to welcome this privatisation of their club, as it would increase their self-reliance and chances of success long-term. During my research I hope to follow these negotiations, and how they are perceived by supporters, in order to further understand the reaction to privatisation of a football club in this specific locality. My preliminary findings support the argument outlined by Dubai in this paper, notably that the neoliberal ‘flows’ (Tsing, 2000) that accompany privatisation in world football cannot be treated as a coherent project, and instead we must take account of the way neoliberalism is “embraced and negotiated across local landscapes” (2010: 124).

Research methods

In order to follow up this initial research interest, I intend to attend football matches of these three football clubs, engage with supporter groups, and management where possible. Support for Azam in no way matches that of Yanga and Simba, but their support is increasing steadily, and meeting some of these supporters is essential in order to further understand how this team operates in opposition to the historic support of Yanga and Simba. For example, it’s likely some of their supporters previously rallied behind Yanga or Simba but decided to switch alliances because they believed Azam offered them more strength and stability. What’s more, members of the Simba management, including the president, claim that Azam offer incentives in order to increase their originally small fan base. The area of Dar es Salaam where the Azam sports complex is located, Mbagala, is home to some of these supporter groups which I hope to seek out.

Communicating with these Azam supporter groups in Mbagala may also provide the opportunity to explore the community function that Azam FC serves, as this element of community has been central to membership of Simba and Yanga since their founding, extending to such social realms as marriage and burial. Conversely, by returning to the Simba Sports Club headquarters in Msimbazi, Kariakoo, I hope to follow the ongoing takeover negotiations and member’s reactions to these, and investigate the contemporary community significance of this supporter owned club.

Research difficulties 

This research proposal and outline of preliminary findings is intended to give an idea of the potential areas to explore when researching football in Dar es Salaam. Some of the difficulties involved with this research project include length of research, which doesn’t exceed two months from time of writing (27 January 2017), as well as language capability, as football fans in Dar es Salaam are sometimes hard to follow due to their passionate, pacey exclamations. Furthermore, access to reading material is another obstacle, as it’s difficult to build on theoretical arguments satisfactorily without access to a library.