Banyana Banyana head coach Dr Desiree Ellis reckons that her charges don’t get the credit they deserve ahead of their WAFCON defence opener this evening.
The team and by extension women’s football in South Africa has endured much on the journey to the top from lack of sponsorship, facilities and resources to the non-professionalization of the women’s game.
However, they have they still managed to get to the top qualifying for two Olympic Games, two FIFA Women’s World Cup events and being able to reach out the knockout phase in one edition, winning the WAFCON and practically dominating the COSAFA region.
Banyana face Ghana tonight in the Group C opener at the back of a strike for unpaid international friendly bonuses while in Morocco, an issue SAFA is said to have since solved.
The coach said for the amount of work her side puts in under unfavourable conditions, they deserve recognition.
“I think Banyana Banyana don’t get the credit they deserve,” said Ellis at the pre-match conference.
“I think, through all the challenges, through all the issues, through everything, they consistently rise to the occasion. They show the resilience; they show the courage.
“You look in 2022 when we lost Thembi [Kgatlana] I think you can attest to that the whole country went into mourning. They thought that was it.
“But we have a group of players that can rise to the occasion. We have a group of players that never know when to quit. We have a group of players that no matter what the scoreline is in the 90 plus minutes we are still creating chances. It’s a group you can rely on, doesn’t matter who comes in.
“And I think a little bit more credit needs to come from everyone else because they deserve that. And when they do things like that it should be gratitude from everybody else to say, no matter what, this team keeps rising.
“But there’s going to come a point, no matter what, the team won’t rise, and we have to make sure that we don’t get to that point. We have to consistently make sure that we create opportunities for others to come in to understand how the team works and that is what we’re trying to do, because we don’t know what’s going to happen in the future. We don’t know which other players are going to decide to step down.
“So, I just think that credit needs to be given where it’s due. On more occasions I don’t think we celebrate this team enough. I don’t think we celebrate this team’s achievements enough. And I think that needs to change, because many of them are not full-time professionals and that’s what makes it the hardest part.
“What I’m actually trying to say is that when the team does well you need to stand up and you need to applaud because when you look at Rugby, they have all the resources. When you look at cricket, they have all the resources.
“When you look at the women’s team, they don’t have similar resources, but yet 80% of the team is not professional. So that speaks to the quality of this group, the courage of this group, the grit of this group, I can go on and on because they should be getting the credit that they deserve.”
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