Professional league set to start new era for UWC’s women stars

THE University of the Western Cape’s women’s football team captain, Jamie-Lee Witbooi, said the team’s inclusion in the Women’s National League would open doors for many players.

The team sealed their spot in the much-anticipated Women’s National League – South Africa’s first professional football league for women – after winning the Sasol League by beating RV United 5-2.

Witbooi said she knew how playing professionally could change someone’s life because she had played professionally in Iceland.

“For the team it is something big. They look forward to it, and it will be a life-changing experience for most of them,” she said. Promotion to the new league would “also be a chance to show other female teams that they can make it”.

Being part of the national league was a reward for the hard work her team had put in to be at the top of their game.

“It means a lot for the team; it has been a very long year. It wasn’t an easy year because we had to juggle being students with trying to make the dream of becoming a professional footballer possible. We put in a lot of work both on and off the field,” she said.

Witbooi said she hoped the league represented the start of a new era of great opportunities for women’s football in the country.

“In South Africa, in general, women’s football is overlooked. More focus needs to be placed on it. We had been in the Sasol League for around eight years and saw improvement.”

UWC coach Nathan Peskin was over the moon after the side’s victory and said it had brought relief and joy to the team.

“As much as the team will give their all in the club championships next month, their main focus is to prepare well for the professional league,” he said.

“None of us know what is going to happen in the national league, and the only thing we can do is to prepare well, knowing we will be playing against the best of the best in the country.”

The National Women’s League will be launched in April next year. South African Football Association vice-president Ria Ledwaba announcement the formation of the league in August. Ledwaba said there would be 12 or 16 teams in the league, but details of how the competition would be run were still being finalised.

She said it was initially planned to have 12 teams in the league, and instead of relegation, two teams promoted to the league over two years, bringing the number of teams to 16.