Portia: women need more support

There can be no doubting the achievements of retired Banyana Banyana star Portia Modise in her long career.

Despite all the obstacles she has come across, Modise (left) has been able to thrive and she remains the best female to have played the game in South Africa.

Modise grew up where a lack of resources, such as an absence of pitches, was a real concern and many of her peers ended up quitting the game.

“It was very hard growing up, we literally had no proper grounds,” Modise reveals.

“It was a huge struggle, but some of us continued playing while others stopped. And back in the day women’s football was not that popular. But I carried on playing.”

The former South African Sports Star-of-the-Year was raised in a large family, with her two brothers but also plenty of cousins, and was fortunate to have got the support from her family to play the game.

In 2000, Modise made her debut for her country and she cherishes wearing the national team shirt.

Her career took off in 2005 when she was nominated for the Fifa Player-of-the-Year award alongside Nigeria’s Perpetua Nkwocha, one of just two African players to earn nomination that year, though the award was won by Birgit Prinz of Germany. In 2006, she was awarded the Player-of-the-Tournament award at the African Women’s Championships and she was also voted one of the top three players in the same year for Confederation of African Football Women’s Footballer-of-the-Year award.

Her career got to the point where everyone thought it would be the end of her when she quit the national team after a fall-out with former coach Augustine Makalakalane in 2008.

Modise spent four years away from the national team, but was recalled to the squad in 2012 after Makalakalane was sacked.

Her return to the national fold saw her achieve many things, but what remains a big highlight for her is that it is the first and only time a South African footballer has played 100 internationals.

That alone says enough about Modise’s talent and she will remain in the history books of our football for a very long time.

Even with so many accomplishments on the part of Banyana Banyana, and with an increasing number of Banyana players moving overseas to play club football, the money in the women’s game is disgracefully low compared to their male counterparts.

Modise, shares a story about former female national team players, who were praised when they played for the national team but are now forgotten.

“It’s sad to see some of the players that I played with struggling like this. There is no one doing anything for them, some of them are living in shacks ... these are the same people who helped grow women’s football in the country,” she says.

“The situation is pretty bad and you once again have to ask yourself, is this what is going to happen to the current Banyana players? They are also not really taken care of financially.”

Still, though, she remains optimistic about making things better for women’s football in future so that they manage to have a good life after playing football.

Another major point Modise raises is encouraging young girls who love football to follow their dreams and play the sport and never be afraid to be judged by their sexuality.