I turned my face away from my then 7-year-old daughter as we walked back to the car dejected. I didn’t want her to see my disappointment as I knew she was devastated. Another setback in our journey to find a football club writes Gasant Abarder.
Abarder, who recently launched his book, Hack with a Grenade, is among the country’s most influential media voices. Catch his weekly column here, exclusive to Cape {town} Etc.
She had joined a training session at a nearby club and yet again the coach only referred to boys as he put them through their paces. She was able to keep up with the rest of the team – all of them boys – but lost interest because she wasn’t acknowledged.
Three years later, on Saturday, there was none of that. Only smiles as 280 junior girl footballers split into under-8 and under-10 age divisions participated in a football festival that was unprecedented in South Africa. The University of the Western Cape (UWC) launched its She-Bobo at UWC league with a football festival giving junior girls a league of their own.
These little trailblazers tore up the pitch. The under-10 top goalscorer – an 8-year-old – finished with 17 goals in just five games!
The 12 community clubs and their players in 20 teams were the real heroes. These volunteer coaches and officials give up their time to accommodate girls’ teams when there aren’t really opportunities and resources. They hail from Khayelitsha, Gugulethu, Salt River, Bellville, Camps Bay, Blikkiesdorp, Delft, Hanover Park, Heideveld, Matroosfontein, and Southfield.
Before She-Bobo (an adaption of the ‘Kasi phrase Shibobo for when you nutmeg your opponent by pushing the ball through their legs) these girls only ever played friendlies and the odd competitive tournament.
But all of that changed on Saturday:
UWC supplied all the kits manufactured by a woman-owned business Fieka Sports and sponsored by an alumnus-owned business Apex. Nando’s Athlone sponsored lunch, Coca-Cola Peninsula Beverages kept them hydrated and KFM and Cape Community Media’s newspaper titles made them household names.
There was so much goodwill around this initiative. Even the legendary world-renowned football commentator Peter Drury lent his voice alongside the girl footballers for the radio ad broadcast on KFM.
The university has an extraordinary knack for producing top women footballers. No fewer than half of the Banyana Banyana team that lifted the Women’s African Cup of Nations hail from UWC. It made perfect sense for UWC to take the lead in junior girls’ football and walk the road with the girls from the fields of play to the graduation stage. It exposes the girls to the best of both worlds from a young age – a world-class higher education and a world-class platform to play football at the highest level.
It was a massive endeavour never before attempted by a university as this isn’t it’s usual demographic of enrolment. University staff and students took on additional work and volunteer roles to make the festival a success. Deep in the bowels of the UWC Stadium, there was organised chaos to give the girls a special day as a vocal crowd was entertained from the opening ceremony to the final whistle.
Security officials went beyond their job description to carry equipment. The university’s media team, who bought into their crazy manager’s She-Bobo idea, became festival organisers. Their boss, now a festival coordinator, played every possible role you can imagine in the stadium.
It was important to show the girls the sky was the limit in a league endorsed by Banyana coach Desiree Ellis, SAFA president Danny Jordaan and Manchester United and Bafana ace Quinton Fortune.
After the successful festival, the attention moves to the league that will commence next year and grow with these girls to under 12, under 14, under 16 and then an academy. The plan is for UWC to enrol the core of these 280 girls to study careers of their choice and carve a path as professional footballers.
For Misha, who inadvertently became the face of She-Bobo in the media and marketing campaign (it was convenient as her mom and dad gave consent for the use of her likeness), a five-year journey to find an all-girls team ended. Earlier this year, she joined the under-10 Salt River Blackpool Football Club girls’ side. She lives, eats, drinks and breathes football with her friends and her dedicated coach Babalwa Mteto, who herself became a Coke Cup champ as a player a little over a week ago.
Misha and the rest of the players who graced the university grounds with their skills on Saturday have been etched into South African football history. Remember them as South Africa intends to bid for the 2027 Women’s World Cup.
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Picture: Ruvan Boshoff