Late Banyana start hasn’t hampered her

At 32, Durban Ladies FC and former Banyana Banyana striker Silindile Ngubane (right) still has the speed and skills that will leave one’s jaw dropping.

The Durban Ladies striker is one of the finest products to come out of KwaZulu-Natal and has been making waves in the Sasol League and now the National Women’s League. Ngubane’s football career has been full of ups and downs, but she has always chosen to think positive.

Having made her Banyana debut in 2012 when she was 28, the striker feels she was lucky to get a break to represent the national team, having lost hope of donning the Banyana shirt one day.

“I thought I would never get an opportunity to play for Banyana because the pool of players has always been huge and everyone wants to play for the national team. the competition is very tough and the talent is also there,” said Ngubane.

“So, one needed to work extra hard to get selected and I am happy I did get opportunity to play. It was great, I remember I was called up by Joseph Mkhonza who was the coach at that time. I scored my first goal for the team in only my second game and I was so thrilled. I just couldn’t stop smiling because it was always something I had always wanted.

“But it didn’t come easy, there was a point when I thought I deserved to be selected, and when it didn’t happen, it broke my heart. But I had to understand that my chance would come and it finally did.”

Over the years, Ngubane has enjoyed great success with Durban Ladies having helped the team dominate women’s football in KZN. She says one of her best achievements was winning the Sasol National Championships back in 2015.

“We had been doing well playing in the Sasol League in KZN, but we always found it difficult when we had to compete at the national finals. The competition became very hard and we would come up against teams who had many Banyana players in their squad,” she continued.

“But as time went by, we grew as a team and became very strong. A number of our players also got call-ups for Banyana and we went on to win the national championships in 2015. It was really great and I felt very proud because I think we deserved it.”

Having been in football for many years now, Ngubane is an inspiration to many young women who play football in Durban and says she wants to see young girls getting into football.

“Slowly but surely we are seeing women’s football growing in the country, especially in my province. I think as time goes by we will see many young girls getting involved and we will also see many teams being established.

Now with the National Women’s League, it will also help us to get much exposure.”