Banyana are lifting up the nation’s spirits

In Wellington, New Zealand, yesterday, our women’s national football team had an emphatic response to the debate about whether women’s sports should get the same treatment as men’s.

In beating Italy 3-2 to advance to the last-16 of the Fifa Women’s World Cup, Banyana Banyana proved that they should not be regarded the same as the men: If they were, they’d just be mediocre, like Bafana Bafana. They are so much better.

Where South African men’s football has been on a downward trajectory ever since Siphiwe Tshabalala’s shot hit the back of the Mexico net in the 2010 World Cup opening match, the women’s version has been headed for the stratosphere.

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The current taste of success is made all the sweeter for the team and its supporting staff because it has happened despite the people who administer football in this country. The players and coaches have all had to struggle for recognition and financial recompense.

This reached a head last month when the team refused to play a World Cup warm up game against Botswana, citing the poor condition of the pitch and their concerns over money.

Money should at least be less of a worry after yesterday, as team members stand to pocket more than R1 million each in bonuses from Fifa…but this only underlines how shabbily they have been treated by the SA Football Association (Safa).

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We hope that Safa will be shamed into not only rewarding this team justly, but also into putting more resources into women’s football generally to encourage those young girls who, having seen Banyana Banyana’s win, can also dream big.

What the team has done is lift – even slightly – the national mood of gloom, doom and despondency and remind all of us that, much as the rest of the world discounts us, we can reach for, and touch, the stars.

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