“The game of football kept us alive. Everything was prohibited on Robben Island, but we used to smuggle rulebooks underground… We realised it was a very important tool for our own solidarity, unity and cooperation.” During the early 60s, in the depths of Robben Island’s dusty prison library, a footballing rule book was found. For many years, sport had been banned on the island while cruelty and brutality were commonplace but, in the years following its discovery, football, as government minister Tokyo Sexwale stated above, would become a source of solace, dignity and resistance for the political prisoners held there during the South African apartheid.

‘Football was an escape for us,’ explained Anthony Suze, star striker during his 15 year spell on the island, ‘We escaped from the warders attention, we escaped from their grip and control, we escaped from the reality of the prison. Football formed our reality and not the insane reality of prison life that was expected to break us down.’ Following more than three years of campaigning and petitioning by the prisoners, permission was finally given for them to play and in 1966 the Makana Football Association was founded. The Makana FA, named after a Xhosa prophet and warrior who was himself imprisoned on the island in the 19th century, followed the laws of the game to the letter; from the size of the goals to the establishment of a disciplinary committee that, at the league’s zenith, oversaw nine clubs providing teams across three divisions in which over half the inmates on the island played.

Incredibly, the league ran until 1991 when the prison closed and South African apartheid was abolished. The Makana FA however was not forgotten, awarded honorary FIFA membership status in 2007 and detailed in depth by the 07 film ‘More Than Just A Game’ as well as Chuck Korr and Mavin Close’s book of the same name. Jacob Zuma, now South African president, was a mean defender during his inceration on the Island as well as a distinguished official, Dikgang Moseneke, now a Constitutional Court judge in South Africa, served on the MFA disciplinary committee while Zuma’s deputy, Kgalema Motlanthe, was also a regular player. Nelson Mandela, on the other hand, was not afforded the same opportunities.

Mandela was one of the few prisoners banned from taking part by the wardens and when the guards realised he was able to watch Saturday’s matches from his cell, a wall was erected to block his view. Nevertheless the importance of sport was far from lost on the father of the rainbow nation. Despite teams often representing varying political views, the league on Robben Island served as a means by which political barriers were broken down and understanding engendered. “Sport has the power to change the world,” Mandela said in a 2000 speech “It has the power to inspire, it has the power to unite people in a way that little else does.”

Following his election to president in 1994, Mandela deftly used sport as a means by which to aid in the healing process of a racially divided nation. The now famous image of Mandela wearing a green Springbok jersey, the Rugby team beloved by the country’s white afrikaners but despised by the nation’s black majority, presenting the trophy to the triumphant South Africa side after winning the 1995 Rugby World Cup on home soil served as a moment of great symbolism. Something repeated by Mandela as Lucas Radebe’s Bafana Bafana won the AFCON, again on home soil, a year later.

Sport as a unifying force is not only evident in South Africa but across all of Africa. Although, the 2010 world cup was staged by the Rainbow nation, there was a strong sense that the tournament belonged to Africa as a whole and this is the prevailing sentiment that characterises every African Cup of Nations of recent times as nations and their diverse cultures are drawn together to celebrate that diversity through football, much as was the case on Robben Island.

Iconic Cup of Nations moments endure in the world footballing consciousness. The eccentric Boubacar Barry saving two and scoring the winning penalty to end two decades of Ivory Coast underachievement in 2015, Marseille and Ghana hero Abedi Pele playing in the 1982 final at just 16, Zambia players kneeling together, singing during their 2012 shootout win, Bafana captain Neil Tovey being presented with the 96 trophy by Mandela, Roger Mila spearheading Cameroon’s 1988 triumph and a reported 100,000 strong Algerian crowd roaring The Desert Warriors home in 1990 are just a handful of memories cast against a backdrop of humming vuvuzelas and pounding drums. The pageantry, vibrancy and joy of African football and the ethos of the Nation’s Cup as a whole makes it the most exciting, colorful and simply the most enjoyable event across the international footballing calendar.

Since the founding of the Makana FA on Robben Island 50 years ago, football has been symbol for unity, understanding and harmony across this tumultuous but vibrant continent, as Nelson Mandela affirms; “Sport has the power to inspire and unite people. In Africa, soccer enjoys great popularity and has a particular place in the hearts of people.” Hopefully, this January as the carnival moves to Gabon, the African Cup of Nations can continue to inspire and unite across Africa and will do so for many decades to come.