WOMEN’S FOOTBALL BUNYANA BUNYANA’S PLAYERS MAKE THE BIG TIME

MAJOR TALENT IN PLAY

Coach Desiree Ellis’ hope for women’s football as more players move abroad

BY SINETHEMBA MBATHA

Women’s football in South Africa is still developing and is not at a level where we want it to be as compared to other big leagues across the world, However seeing our women footballers making headlines for securing moves abroad is enough proof that there is progress in the women’s game in the country.

Many South African football supporters recently joined in on the celebrations of Banyana Banyana players getting contracts abroad. This is truly what it means to strive and succeed in the midst of a global pandemic. This is a big deal for the South African football fraternity because there was a time where big transfer conversations only involved male footballers.

Amongst the players who will be plying their trade abroad are, Banyana Banyana captain; Janine Van Wyk who joined Scottish giants Glasgow City, in a move that could see Janine realise her childhood dream of playing in the Women’s UEFA Champions League as Glasgow is still part of the competition that was suspended prematurely due to the Corona Virus pandemic, and is due to return on the 21st of August. The skipper’s participation will be based on her fitness level as she has been out of action for a while due to an injury she sustained while in action for Banyana Banyana in the COSAFA Women’s Championship. The injury also forced Janine to

COACH DESIREE BELIEVES THAT THE WOMEN’S LEAGUE WAS A START AND A STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION AND IT EXPOSED TALENT WHICH WILL ASSIST IN BOOSTING THE NATIONAL TEAM.

watch football from the sidelines as she missed the season with her Denmark club Fortuna Hjorring, but that did not prevent the Glasgow move from being sealed. Glasgow City announced Janine across all their social media platforms and labelled the transfer as “the biggest signing in Scottish women’s football”. The announcement made it to the list of trending topics on Twitter, the 33-year-old Van Wyk is the most capped player in South African and there is no doubt that her experience will contribute to Glasgow’s success.

Young talent and former University of Johannesburg star Amanda Mthandi, will serve as an inspiration to other Sasol League and Varsity football players after her completed move to Spain where she joined

CD Badajoz. Amanda won’t be the only South African player in Spain: she joins former Gintra Universitetas defender Nothando Vilakazi who joined EDF Logrono and the 2018 African Women of the year Thembi Kgatlane who joined Eibar from Portuguese side SL Benfica. Other players who moved abroad include Kelso Peskin who joined French second division side Stade Brestois 29 Feminine, Jermaine Seoposenwe who will be playing for Portugal outfit SC Braga and Mamelodi Sundowns ladies player Rhoda Mulaudzi who signed a six-month contract with Belarus Women’s League giants FC Dinamo Minsk together with another Banyana star Lebogang Ramalepe.

”It’s like as soon as you blink another one signs a contract”, Coach Desiree Ellis says with her face beaming with pride as she sits down with Sinethemba Mbatha for a Zoom interview to speak about the women’s game.

ONE CANNOT SPEAK OF WOMEN’S FOOTBALL IN SOUTH AFRICA WITHOUT MENTIONING SASOL, THEY HAVE REMAINED FAITHFUL TO THE WOMEN’S GAME AND ACTED AS AN ENGINE TO ENSURE THAT WOMEN’S FOOTBALL DOES NOT GO UNNOTICED.

The coach who is a former player herself and a two time CAF Women’s Coach of the Year, starts the conversation by looking back to the 2018 Africa Women Cup of Nations by making a comparison to Banyana Banyana’s rivals Nigeria and Cameroon squads which had most of their players playing their trade abroad, and how much it benefitted their respective teams at the tournament. She hopes that South African players will return home with this very same experience to improve our Women’s National team, and also inspire upcoming footballers to see it is possible to succeed abroad as a female footballer.

After many years of promises to have a women’s league similar to the Premier Soccer League in order to professionalise the women’s game, we finally had the inaugural season of the National Women’s League which displayed a lot of talent but it was the Mamelodi Sundowns ladies that proved to be ahead of all the other teams - they finished the entire season unbeaten to eventually clinch the title.

Coach Desiree believes that the Women’s League was a start and a step in the right direction and it exposed talent which will assist in boosting the national team. She continues to urge the Soweto giants Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates to come on

board and establish women’s teams. “If the two giants are on board it will also get a lot of sponsors to come on board too to support women’s football” she further stated. The marketing director of Kaizer Chiefs, Jessica Motaung has previously stated in different interviews that Kaizer Chiefs is indeed in the process of establishing a women’s team though she did not give a timeframe of how long this process will take and when can we expect the team announcement. However, it will be an announcement that will certainly make Coach Desiree happy.

While waiting for the Soweto giants to come on board, the hard work continues for Coach Ellis who has many goals set for the Women’s National Team and mentions they still have unfinished business as a team and owe it to themselves and the country, to go back and compete in the next FIFA Women’s World Cup but conquering Africa remains as their ultimate goal.

One cannot speak of women’s football in South Africa without mentioning Sasol, They have remained faithful to the women’s game and acted as an engine to ensure that women’s football does not go unnoticed. Coach Desiree also did not hold back when it comes to Sasol as she gave credit to the organization for their role in supporting Women’s football, describing their contribution as one that we should be grateful for as it cannot be compared to anything. She believes it assisted a lot with displaying and exposing talent that went on to be involved in the national team. She hopes Sasol can continue to be the force behind women’s football in years to come. “This has just been incredible and beyond my wildest imagination,” added Ellis.

“I am almost afraid to blink because when I wake up in the morning, there is another player signed up. The players have been fantastic with their individual work behind the scenes and through their efforts are now taking the next step on their new journeys. The experiences they will now bring to Banyana Banyana will be immense and hopefully this will

help raise the levels in the team to greater heights.

“I remember going to the 2016 Women’s Afcon in Cameroon and facing the likes of Cameroon and Nigeria who had about 80 percent of their squad playing abroad and you could see the experience in their teams during certain situations. We are now possibly in a position to also bring similar experiences to Banyana Banyana.”

Coach Desiree Ellis concluded by stating that, “The future looks bright, we have no idea of the talent we have” and she urged investors to follow in the footsteps of Sasol and continue to support Women’s football.

A passionate and well driven coach, we have no doubt that with her at the wheel, women’s football in our country will go far. Ù