Football Posts as Grand Arenas for Counter Hegemony: Readers Comments on Highlanders Facebook Page

Abstract

This study explores social media discourses that followed a post celebrating the president of Zimbabwe, Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa’s birthday on Bulawayo based Highlanders FC’s Facebook page. The study further interrogates how comments on Highlanders’ FC page reflect on contemporary hegemonic struggles between football fans and political icons. Findings from the study suggest that Highlanders’ Facebook page facilitated discourses hinged on Ndebele identity and cultural pride contesting against the ethnicity and political identity represented by the political icon. The historical traumas recalling Gukurahundi were also found to be foundational to the counterhegemony which the fans identified as pervasive to their expectations of what constitutes their definition of the ‘beautiful’ game. Ultimately Highlanders FC Facebook page functioned as a counter pubic sphere necessitating political discourses in which ordinary citizens speak back to power.