Abstract:
This paper examines Mohammed Juma Njuguna’s radio commentary on English
Premier League football to a Kenyan audience. It observes that this commentator’s
performance uniquely deviates from the play-by-play style of radio football
commentary which we have known in Kenya. His focus is not limited to the
football match event, and to comprehend it one has to consult other frames of
interpretation beyond the football match event. These narratives not only invoke
a socio-cultural context but are also constructed and performed in a way that
closely relates them to aspects of the oral traditional performance. I investigate
this phenomenon in the light of the concept of radio football commentary as an
envisioning process, and argue that such envisioning goes beyond the football
match event to the wider perceptions and social myths of both the community
of fans and the wider society and culture.
