We don’t celebrate our women enough!

G’day I hope by the time you read this column, Banyana Banyana would have reached the final of the 2018 CAF African Women Cup of Nations, as they play Mali in the second semi-final tonight (Tuesday). Congratulations in advance to coach Desiree Ellis, her players and technical team. We don’t celebrate our women football achievements as much as we should, in comparison to their male counterparts. Let’s quickly look at Desiree’s track record. She was the Banyana captain and went on to be the only South African – male or female – to win the COSAFA Cup Championship both as a player and as a coach! She achieved this feat in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, two years ago. At the time, she was Banyana’s interim coach, following the departure of Vera Pauw. Women’s football has grown so much in the last two-three years and the girls have been making the country proud. However, I feel we don’t embrace and celebrate them enough! Desiree has really revived our national team since taking over the reins, without taking anything away from Vera who obviously worked very closely with Des. They both learned a lot from each other. We all know that there was a bit of scepticism when it came to finally giving Desiree a chance to coach the team, after being made a caretaker coach for a long time, with rumours of another foreign coach likely to take over. I’m glad that never distracted her on her mission and you could see her positive outlook from her team. Like I always say, the team is a reflection of the coach. Having had an opportunity to bump into her from time to time, we always talk and encourage each other. She’s mentioned how difficult it is to get the job done, but I always tell her of how impressed I am of her because she just grabbed the bull by the horns. We are talking national team level here, not a club side. Her team has got everything you wish for in this game and they are tactically sound, thanks to the training they get from their technical team and the help of their club sides. To think that Des has already won two COSAFA titles in such a short space of time, with a possibility of adding the CAF Africa Women Cup of Nation, is unbelievable. We have to give credit to this legend of the game. She doesn’t make any noise about her achievements, as she quietly focuses on getting the job done. She also never claims glory as she always credits her technical team. It is a pity that Des and Simphiwe Dludlu, who also managed to do an unthinkable by qualifying our Bantwana Bantwana for the U17 FIFA world Cup, are not celebrated enough. Can you imagine the experience our girls gained in Uruguay, despite the disappointing results? Just qualifying and being there will go a long way in preparing a better future team. These two coaches and their colleagues continue to make us proud and I want to salute them. They’re both from humble beginnings, having earned their stripes on the field and now proving their worth off it. We also need to give credit to SAFA for making sure that our girls get all the support they need in order to prepare for their respective tournaments. I mean, they had camps outside of the country and played some of the big European countries as part of their preparations. A lot of money was invested in these girls and that’s commendable from the Mother Body. The evidence is there for everyone to see that our women’s football is taking shape. If you look at our girls’ style of play, keeping possession, the ability to rotate the ball, creating goalscoring chances, individual brilliance and all those things, you can see that they are going somewhere. I recently singled out Percy Tau for the unbelievable performances he put out for Bafana Bafana and I would be failing if I didn’t do the same for Thembi Kgatlana, who has been unbelievable, especially in front of goals and is arguably the best player of the tournament so far, Jermaine Seoposenwe, Linda Motlhalo, Nothando Vilakazi and our captain, Janine van Wyk, just to mention a few, for the wonderful performances so far. The girls are unbelievable with or even without possession, how they behave on the field and it is quite remarkable. The pace and big heart up front is marvellous to watch. I’m really happy for Des and wish her and the team all the best. She’s achieved so much in a short space of time, like I said, and I hope there’s more to come from her. Let’s embrace our women’s football because they’re not doing it for themselves. We need to take our game to the next level, just like Des and Simphiwe have showed us. We need to celebrate them and learn as much as we can from them because they know what they’re doing. We also need to continue supporting these guys for the job well done. I’m super proud of Desiree and Simphiwe for making us proud. I hope they continue to succeed and that their success will inspire other young ladies out there to go for their dreams.