Former JVW FC and Banyana-Banyana defender Janine Van Wyk has opened up about what led to her leaving the national team’s 2024 Olympic Games qualifiers against the Democratic Republic of Congo in November.
The 36 year old had announced her retirement from the international stage prior to the camp with the South African Football Association (SAFA) having said it was an opportunity for her to break the highest capped player record in Africa, a record previously held by Egypt’s Ahmed Mohamed that stood for 11 years. She didn’t come on in the first leg of the match away in Congo and upon returning for the second leg in Orlando Van Wyk abandoned camp and expressing her disappointment on her social media.
In an interview with the South African Football Journalists Association (SAFJA) on Thursday Van Wyk revealed the details that led to her leaving adding that she felt betrayed and wasn’t sure if there was going to be another opportunity to reach the milestone.
“It obviously was a disappointment for me not being able to go into camp and everything was planned around that specific camp,” Van Wyk told SAFJA.
“I had just announced my retirement. Going into camp I went in with you know a full heart, full force to try and go into camp and there were so many new faces as well. So I had so much energy to give out my last bit of who I was, especially to young girls that have just come into camp.
“And being the leader that I have been for the national team, I wanted to spend some time with every single individual, to ask how they were and how they were feeling especially the new ones. I got to spend some time with the ones that I have been through this journey for many years. So I felt like I had given in that campso much of myself because I knew it would be my last.
“And then that big disappointment came where I didn’t take the field and the final whistle blew. So it was all the energy that I had drained before that match that it just led to huge disappointment. So I left camp because I felt a little bit betrayed. I felt hurt and I understood that it wasn’t about me. I understood that it was about the team that needed to get the result but I just couldn’t understand that even the result would still stand even if I had gone on for two, three, four, five minutes of the game and towards the end as it was planned.
“So you know with the excuses that coach Desiree gave me about the game was so intense and she needed the result and she just lost track of time, you know it was just hurtful for me. So, when we flew back in I just decided to go home and because I’d left so much in camp and I didn’t get in return what was planned for me to be, I didn’t see a point in going to play the last match at Orlando Stadium and still lose out on the record.
“So for me, it was just like, whatever happens in future I don’t know if I will get it but I’d rather not go because the plan was to get my two caps but if it happened in future that I’ll get another opportunity then so be it because I didn’t know if I would get it.
“So then the CEO came and had a chat with me and I expressed my emotions and feelings towards her. And a week or so prior to the Burkina Faso match they called me up and asked if I was willing to go into camp to get the last two caps and of course after I had all the emotions settled I was clear minded back then and accepted the call up to the national team to go and get the last two caps that I then earned.
