Africa Is a Country

A Lion in Winter

Africa Is a Country Podcast
African Five-a-Side Podcast

A Lion in Winter

By
Peter Alegi

Isaiah Stein was a sports activist and father of footballers, Edwin (Luton Town), Brian (Luton Town and England) and Mark (Chelsea).

A young Isaiah Stein.

A stalwart of the anti-apartheid sport boycott movement, Isaiah Stein, passed away in the United Kingdom on January 20, 2011. After serving time in prison – in the mid-1960s – Stein left South Africa for Britain where he worked tirelessly for the exiled South African Non-Racial Olympic Committee (SANROC).

Three of his sons became professional footballers in England; Brian had an illustrious career at Luton Town and earned an England cap in 1984. Playing for Chelsea, Mark once scored in seven consecutive matches (a record which stood until 2002); Edwin meanwhile played for Barnet. It is little-known stories like those of the Stein family from [the coloured township of Athlone in]Cape Town that remind us of the dignity, humility, hard work, and sacrifice of individuals who fought relentlessly to advance the cause of sport and human rights in South Africa and beyond. Rest in Peace Isiah.

* For more on Mark and Brian Stein’s remarkable football careers, read Sean Jacobs’ article, “‘It wasn’t that I did not like South African football’: media, history and biography.“

Further Reading

The General sleeps

As former Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari’s death is mourned with official reverence, a generation remembers the eight years that drove them out.

The grift tank

In Washington’s think tank ecosystem, Africa is treated as a low-stakes arena where performance substitutes for knowledge. The result: unqualified actors shaping policy on behalf of militarists, lobbyists, and frauds.

Kagame’s hidden war

Rwanda’s military deployments in Mozambique and its shadowy ties to M23 rebels in eastern Congo are not isolated interventions, rather part of a broader geopolitical strategy to expand its regional influence.

After the coups

Without institutional foundations or credible partners, the Alliance of Sahel States risks becoming the latest failed experiment in regional integration.

Whose game is remembered?

The Women’s Africa Cup of Nations opens in Morocco amid growing calls to preserve the stories, players, and legacy of the women who built the game—before they’re lost to erasure and algorithm alike.

Sovereignty or supremacy?

As far-right politics gain traction across the globe, some South Africans are embracing Trumpism not out of policy conviction but out of a deeper, more troubling identification.