Youngest in team rise to occasion
Cape Town Roses focus on developing girl footballers in this year’s women’s football season
THEY’RE not only one of South Africa’s top women’s football competitive teams, they are also South Africa’s leading team for developing girl football players into a championship winning team. They are Gugulethu-based Cape Town Roses; a women’s football team founded, held together and coached by primary schoolteacher Xolile Madikane.
Cape Town Roses have won the Western Cape women’s football league for seven out of eight years.
The year they lost it was in 2016, when they finished one point behind and second to winners UWC. In 2014, they won the national play-offs women’s football competition, hosted by Safa (the South African Football Association), and reached the finals of that national event, several times, the latest being in 2017.
And this was done with several schoolgirl footballers in the team.
When the Western Cape women’s football league finally kicks off this weekend, primarily in Cape Town and surrounding areas, Cape Town Roses will field one of its youngest teams fielded in the league.
The youngest player will be 11-year-old Inga Sam Sam, whose 13-year-old sister, Lithemba, has already scored significant goals for Cape Town Roses.
Out of this championship-winning team of 2017, coach Madikane has many of last season’s team players, but several players who made pivotal contributions to the league and knock-out wins have taken transfers for various reasons such as Ode Fulutudilu’s pro contract in Finland, Sisanda Vukapi’s university club affiliation, transfers to other cities and clubs like in the case of Unathi Booi, Roxanne Barker and Lelona Dewati.
With the void left in the club by the team’s championship-winning players, Madikane wasn’t worried.
He had many pre-teen girl footballers waiting for an opportunity to be in the senior team.
“I saw it as another opportunity for the girl footballers to develop in the team,” he said.
“As defending champions, don’t you want to win the league this year?” I ask him.
“W e have won the league seven times out of eight seasons. I’m giving other teams and coaches a chance to win the league this year. But I’m not saying I’ve just given up,” he said, smiling.
There’s still a confident mood prevailing among the girls with about 20 of them registered this year to play women’s football, all being schoolgirls.
The 17-year-old Cesane twins, after a two-year stint at Safa’s high performance school in Gauteng are back at the club this season, and will play influential roles as senior and experienced players.
But then again, Cape Town Roses has always been about primary schoolgirl players. They have developed within the team to become Western Cape champions and one of South Africa’s top three women’s football teams.
Sadly, this rich talent at Cape Town Roses has been overlooked for senior women’s national selection and representation over the years, the young team showing their prowess and winning titles. This marginalisation baffles Madikane. “I fail to understand why national selectors and coaches ignore players from Cape Town Roses. Over the years, the team and players have proven themselves as a winning team of talented, quality players but national selectors have ignored this talent,” he said.
The 2017 season was when Cape Town Roses should have had five teenage girls in the SA under 20 women’s football team. But they had just three.
And then one of the Western Cape’s leading goal scorers last year, Sisanda Vukapi went on to be top goal scorer at the national play-offs, yet didn’t get national Under-20 selection.
Madikane has had to watch other players getting selected while his quality championship winning players were ignored.
Madikane is the Western cape’s most successful women’s football coaches in the past eight years and one of SA’s top women’s football coaches.
Yet he has been overlooked for a national coaching position. “I have proven my coaching credentials,” he said. “It’s other coaches who must prove themselves, including those who have been appointed national coaches in women’s football.”
Although he is disappointed when he sees that deserving players from his young team don’t get Under-20 and Banyana Banyana selection, Madikane said: “Cape Town Roses have shown their quality… The team turned raw talent into quality and did something worthwhile with the quality, talented players. What must else must we prove?”
Cape Town Roses kick off their delayed 2018 season with a home match in Guguletu on Sunday against Santos.
The girls have been diligently going through the training schedule prescribed by the coach. They have also enjoyed pre-season training on the sandy ground at an under-resourced school in Guguletu.
Now they are ready to play the competitive matches in the big league and see how they develop. Knowing their prowess over the years, no team will take the Cape Town Roses lightly or assume them as a walkover team.
Every team playing against the youngest team in the league will have to work hard for their goals and their points because of the team’s winning streak and the players who came before them. It is standard for them to score goals and win matches and championships.
Meanwhile, Madikane says he’s going to enjoy the season and take great pleasure in their progress on the field.