By next week Sunday when you read this column, Banyana Banyana would have already played and finished their first match against Sweden at the 2023 Fifa Women’s World Cup in Australia/New Zealand.
Due to 8-10 hour time difference between SA and Down Under, the matches will be played at ungodly hours and many a fan will be in dreamland when their favourite football national team takes on the field.
In their hearts, the fans have replaced the fumbling Bafana Bafana with a bunch of winners and African champions who are known as Banyana.
South Africans are putting their hopes on the girls who romped home with gold at the Wafcon in Morocco last year. Coached by Desiree Ellis, the girls are walking with a bounce in their steps. But all that swag and confidence was almost dented by the bungling Safa
bosses who got entangled with the players in bonus negotiations a couple of days before the girls departed for New Zealand.
Simply put, Safa did not have money to pay the girls. A bird inside the national association explained in confidence that had it not been for the Motsepe Foundation, the mother body would still be, cap in hand, begging for funding in the corporate world. It is no secret that the association is struggling financially and paying the girls from their pocket would have hurt their coffers.
Safa have lost their credibility in the corporate world. With scandal after scandal, investors do not have confidence with the Safa House leadership.
Broadcast rights money is not flowing in like the River Nile, technical sponsorship is at a bare minimum and the coffers are as dry as a Savannah from the local tavern.
But having reached a common ground, thanks to the Motsepe family’s intervention, the girls can now focus on the task at hand. This is their second successive Fifa World Cup and they know well that the Wafcon and the World Cup are two worlds apart. The path to the next round won’t be as smooth as it was in
Morocco. In fact, if Ellis’ charges do not up their game, they can end up being the whipping girls in the group that has Sweden, Italy and Argentina lying in wait.
Upon arrival, the girls were met by wet and cold conditions at the Ole Soccer Academy in Kenepuru, Porirua in New Zealand – but this did not dampen their spirits, according to Centrecircle.online,
“I think the rain came a bit early, which is good for us to be able to train in the rain as well as in the cold. Their winter is only starting now but it’s something we expected – you know back in South Africa it was really cold at times and we needed to get used to the cold,” Ellis was quoted.
“But I think the conditions are slightly different and we are also having to manage recovery in between with the jet lag, so we can’t push as hard as we want to, but the players know they have to push and get the maximum out of them, even though they’re feeling a bit fatigued, and that is something that we’re managing really well,” added Ellis.
This is the kind of bravado and war talk that the country is expecting – that it is not going to be easy but it is not impossible. Banyana have been on an upward spiral and we are confident that they can grab four points and sneak into the knockout round. They have some of the most skilful players who can dribble and use their trickery to victory.
Halala Banyana Banyana!
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