A new exhibition Fields of Play: football memories and forced removals in Cape Town will open at the District Six Homecoming Centre, 15A Buitenkant Street, Cape Town on Tuesday 21 October 2008

The Fields of Play exhibition explores the dynamic intersection of memory, football and forced removals in the history of Cape Town. More than merely a scene of pastime and leisure, football offers us some insights into the complex social history that defined Cape Town as a modern South African city. 

The exhibition explores the emergence of football on the Green Point Common from the 1800s until the period of forced removals in the 1950s, and its re-organisation on the edges of an apartheid city. The exhibition is a tentative step towards deepening our understanding of forced removals and its consequences on those who administered, played and watched football in Cape Town. As Green Point Common once again becomes the focal point of football in the city with the approach of the 2010 Soccer World Cup - we wish to recall the routes football has travelled from the difficult days of its emergence on the Common, to its re-emergence on the edges of the city.

The exhibition offers an account of football as it was played on Green Point Common (Greenpoint), Maitland (Royal Road), Langa (Langa Stadium), Kenilworth (Rosmead Sports Ground), Athlone (Athlone Stadium), Observatory (Hartleyvale), Salt River (Shelley Street), Wynberg (William Herbert Sports Ground), Rylands (Rygate) and Stellenbosch.

In presenting Fields of Play, the Museum has built on its methodology of combining oral histories and narratives drawn from vast private and public collections to enliven our understanding of the meaning of forced removals.

Fields of Play has temporarily been closed because of building renovations. We anticipate a re-opening towards the end of November but a date will be announced closer to the time. The new entrance fee of R20 will apply, with a combined ticket to both exhibitions being R35.