The socio-political context in post-liberation Ethiopia was marked by a multitude of agendas and possibilities. On the national level, Haile Selassie tried to reduce the power of the occupying British military administration – after the final defeat of the Italian troops in 1941 – and checkmate any attempt by local notables to threaten his authority and legitimacy. Within this difficult situation, life continued for adults, youth, and children in the empire. Drawing on a wide range of examples, this chapter analyses the role of sports in educational and leisure contexts.

The existing literature on modern sports in post-liberation Ethiopia reduces athletic activities primarily to football. Without any doubt, the game was very popular amongst the local male population as well as amongst the members of the British Military Mission (BMME), which remained in the empire until 1951. Thus, it is no wonder that football became one of the main drivers behind re-organizing sports in absence of an authority, such as the Sports Bureau for the Natives, which had coordinated athletic activities during the Fascist occupation. Matches were being played as early as 1942, and the Ethiopian Football Federation was founded in 1943 – a year before the establishment of the Ethiopian Sports Confederation.

Reports in Ethiopian newspapers such as the Ethiopian Herald and Addīs Zemen, as well as photographs located in the Institute of Ethiopian Studies, suggest that modern sports proliferated mostly in the armed forces via the influence of foreign military advisors. The army established its athletic club in 1945. In 1948, the Imperial Body Guard and Police Force followed suit. During the 1950s, the Air Force founded its sports club and opened its training camp at Debre Zeit air base for athletes ‘deprived of any facilities and installations’. Furthermore, armed forces personnel promoted sports in the educational system. First, by teaching ‘drill’ as a form of sports in schools; retired army officers were involved in physical education until its systematic introduction by a governing institution in the late 1940s. Second, the re-established Boy Scout Association formed a strong link between army and educational system, which became most apparent in the form of the Department of Physical Education and Boy Scouting within the Ministry of Education and Fine Arts (MoE), established in 1950.