Paper short abstract:

This paper focuses on the history of bureaucratic practices in sport organisations and associations in urban Senegal. It argues that texts, minutes and rules of sport clubs have contributed to the organisation of urban social life.

Paper long abstract:

This paper argues that sports are often not only played on the pitch, but also on paper, and that these bureaucratic practices in sport shape daily urban life. The creation of sport associations and organisations goes hand in hand with the production of texts, rules and minutes. Moreover, sport activities are quantified and translated into numbers. Games between different teams are recorded in match reports, and even the final result may be a decision on paper, based on rules and penalties. At the same time, sport associations and organisations reflect, create and/or strengthen different urban identities, from an urban village team to a neighbourhood club, or from a company's team to a national board, which has its head office in the city. This paper explores these different dimensions of the bureaucratisation of sports in a historical perspective in the urban region of Dakar. Based on archival documents, but also interviews and observations, the paper asks how sport associations and organisations have contributed to the organisation of social life in the city and how they have influenced social imaginations and practices of civic action.