I co-authored More Than Just A Game with Professor Chuck Korr and have just been made aware of your thoughts on the book ( and film). I very much appreciated your wise critique and was particularly taken by your observation that `social change is as much about nobility amongst those outside the headlines as it is about the public heroes’. For many, the very mention of Robben Island immediately suggests Mandela and Zuma. But there were of course, two thousand other committed men on the island who sacrificed everything to fight apartheid. That they continued to do this in prison, through the community of football, says much about how much sport can unite us all.

Another story within this canon, that is well worth looking at further, also happened in Africa. To wit, in Algeria, during their fight for independence from their French colonialists, the FLN guerilla army formed an `illegal’ Algeria team by convincing Algerian players in the French League to defect. Though FIFA refused to recognise their rebel team, they played 65 international matches over four years against Eastern European teams, Vietnam, China et al, and became a vitally important rallying point for Algerians.

You describe yourself as a soccer addict – who is your team? Thanks again for your well-considered interest in More Than Just A Game.

Yours in sport,

Marvin