Exciting launch of girls soccer league
ELCLFA event a first for the region
As girls soccer spreads like wildfire across schools in Buffalo City, the East London Central local Football Association (ELCLFA) has launched the first-ever girls soccer league in the region.
Last Wednesday and Thursday, the ELCFLA hosted teams from different schools at the North End Stadium and Hamiliton Sports Club for the inaugural Premier Star Bakeries-sponsored Women High School Football League Programme.
The league is currently made up of 10 schools, including John Bisseker High, East London Secondary, Greenpoint Secondary, BCMM Inner City, Mzomhle High, Hudson Park High, Clarendon High, Sikhulile High, Amitek High and Centre of Excellence.
Kick-off at 3pm on day one of the games saw a spirited match between Greenpoint Secondary and Clarendon High, with their performance described by officials as “a top class exhibition of football which augurs well for our league moving forward”.
Two of the intended fixtures did not take place, however, the girls were not deterred and instead used the opportunity to train on the astroturf, a first for many of them.
ELCLFA vice-president and head of Youth Affairs, Vuyo Zambodla, said archival records showed women’s soccer has existed sporadically in Buffalo City during earlier periods of ELCFLA’s existence. Zambodla said the league was a pilot project to gauge the interest, commitment, talent and skill level of girls soccer at secondary school. Head of sport at Clarendon High, Kaila-Ron Willemse, said introducing a new sport in a school was often difficult in terms of the finances and resources available.
Coach Patrick Mindiera, for Centre of Excellence High School, said a lack of playing space was a major concern for the development of girls soccer at the school.
Zambodla said bringing the teams together in the league allowed ELCFLA the opportunity to identify where schools had challenges in terms of the development of their teams, so that these issues could be addressed as ultimately “giving girls the opportunity to play” was the top priority.
Talented girls soccer players with their sights set on a professional career in the sport slip through the cracks because there are very few opportunities for them to play.
Zambodla said local girls soccer players had encountered immense challenges in the pursuit of a soccer career because clubs and leagues for women’s soccer started up but often folded quickly as the administrative power needed to keep clubs going was often missing.
ELCFLA director for women’s football, Nondwe Nondaka, said “the lack of interest in mentoring and growing womens football at schools and at amateur level by our football administrators and leadership stems from the fact that more emphasis is on male sport or where there are personal sports administrative benefits”.
“Nowadays, very few are prepared to volunteer their administration and coaching/ mentoring skills free of charge, unlike in the past when many of our sports administrators and leaders made it their community obligation to uplift and empower our youth [male and female] through playing sport.”
Centre of Excellence High School assistant coach, Peter Togo, bemoaned the lack of opportunities for good players to get the recognition they deserved and that the pressure to provide platforms to ensure girls were noticed by recruiters or talent scouts was not easy for coaches.
He is among many coaches who are grateful for Nondaka and the ELCFLA’s efforts, and hopes this is the start of sustained growth in local women’s soccer.
Centre of Excellence team captain, Musa Magaqa, said it was shocking it took so many years for administrators to successfully push for gender parity in terms of soccer in Buffalo City, but she was grateful it was unfolding during her lifetime.
“Soccer’s my life right now, it’s my place to escape and it’s my second home,” she said.
“I can’t imagine a life where there’s no place for me to play.”