Coach Ellis keeps her head while others lose theirs
THE Banyana Banyana Fifa Women’s World Cup squad announcement and send-off gala dinner was a shambles at the Sefako Makgatho Presidential Guest House in Pretoria on Friday night.
But Banyana coach Desiree Ellis remained unbowed and dutifully read out the final list of 23 players who will represent South Africa at the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand from July 20 to August 20.
She also read out the names of three standby players who will travel with the team but will return home a few days after the final squad is submitted to Fifa.
The three standby players are Nthabiseng Majiya, Amogelang Motau and Regirl Ngobeni.
Ellis said that in the event of injury or ill health, these players will provide cover for the squad which will be captained by Refiloe Jane.
Minister of Sport Zizi Kodwa addressed the audience, but there were no opportunities for South African Football Association (Safa) president Danny Jordaan or the officials of the team’s generous sponsor Sasol.
Independent Media has established that several speeches, including those of Jordaan and Sasol, had been pre-recorded but were not used because of multiple system problems that arose during the function.
Perhaps there was a pointer that the function was headed for disaster when an invitation showed the date of the function to be June 20 rather than the 23rd. The invitation was also littered with poor language.
Fortunately, the live TV crossing to the function was brief and only made time for Ellis to announce the squad.
Some viewers were surprised at the number of empty tables near the stage. These seats may have been reserved for the invited dignitaries who did not turn up for the event.
The main problem was the malfunctioning sound and video systems. The engineers could not set up links with the giant screens around the venue.
The function started late and when guests arrived, organisers were still setting up decorations, seating and tables.
One journalist in attendance said: “At some point, (Minister) Kodwa could not stomach it anymore.
“The minister walked up to the event organisers and production floor managers to presumably ask them what the hell was going on.”
Throughout this horror show, coach Ellis dutifully conducted a plethora of media interviews, which were mostly emotional as she spoke about the stress of leaving players out of the Women’s World Cupbound squad.
No doubt, much of the stress would have been brought on by missing out on a whopping R560 000 payday. Fifa has guaranteed every player at the Women’s World Cup a $30 000 pay cheque.
Many of the players do not have contracts and this pay-out would have been life-changing.
Some of the players may also be returning home as millionaires if the team manage to reach the second round. In that event, the basic pay will be R1.2-million per player.
Apart from the Fifa payments, players will also receive performance bonuses from sponsors Sasol and Safa.