balls
Connie Selebogo
South Africa’s bid to host the 2006 Soccer World Cup is not a big issue to women soccer players, who believe they are discriminated against and neglected by the South African Football Association (Safa).
It’s been a year since the South African women’s soccer team, Banyana Banyana, has been seen in action. They played their last game in October 1998, at the World Cup qualifying games held in Nigeria.
The team’s management complains that Safa is not interested in women’s soccer. Women players believe that priority is given to Bafana Bafana, which they say has already been developed and has all the resources and facilities.
Banyana Banyana chair Natasha Tsichlas resigned from the national team’s committee as a result of poor communication between Safa and the women’s team management.
She says she decided to quit because in reality there is no Banyana team, no money, no games, no sponsors, no equipment and no commitment on the part of Safa.
Inter-provincial tournaments were held in July and 40 players were selected for trials for the Banyana squad. But these players haven’t received any information regarding new developments in the national team and they haven’t even been introduced to the team management.
“We worked hard and confidently to show our potential, that we can do what the men’s team can do. But we are not given a chance to prove our abilities to our nation,” says Anna “Bashen” Baloi, of Zebra Force women’s team in Mabopane, North-West province, who is among the 40 players selected for the trials.
She is optimistic that given a chance, she can do better than the previous Banyana Banyana team.
“It is painful for me to sit at home with such a talent while it is a right of every deserving player to play for her or his national team,” says Baloi. “Women have the same potential as men on the soccer field. They get the same training and do more ball work in their training sessions.”
Some players believe that women should not train women’s teams because they say they are less experienced than men. But Banyana Banyana did well under coach Fran Hilton-Smith. They won 12 games and managed to beat Swaziland 9-0 in the World Cup qualifying first round last year.
Women’s soccer is well-developed in most provinces, such as North-West, Gauteng, Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga.
Some public schools in North-West are encouraging young girls to get involved in the sport, while the Northern Province has developed a new programme called Academy of Sport to help develop youth sports.
In response to the allegations, Safa says it is busy working things out with Banyana management. Safa chief executive Raymond Hack says a meeting was held to resolve all problems facing the women’s team. Hilton-Smith has been re-appointed as national coach and also manager of the team.
“Players will be assembled at the beginning of December 1999 for training sessions and for proper selection of the squad,” says Hilton-Smith.
Safa refused to comment on Tsichlas’ resignation.