MEC for sport‚ arts‚ culture and recreation in Gauteng Mbali Hlophe has committed herself to ensuring that the National Women’s League gets off the ground as planned this year.
There is no clarity if the first professional football league for women in the country league will go ahead as planned but Hlophe said her department will be working closely with Safa to ensure that it takes off.
“As a department‚ we will be working very closely with Safa to ensure that we assist them in the development of the National Women’s League that they want to establish‚” she said during Banyana Banyana’s return from the World Cup where they lost all their three group matches.
“We have also had discussions with the department of education to ensure that we drive school sports. There is acknowledgement from government that we need to do more to assist women sports. When the next World Cup comes in four years’ time‚ there must be drastic changes in how things are done.”
“We definitely need to make sure that we establish the National Women’s League. In four years time‚ we can’t be sitting here talking about the same things again. We take up the challenge to travel this journey with the girls.”
Earlier this year‚ former minister of sports and recreation Tokozile Xasa said the department will contribute R5m over the next three years to the league and challenged corporate South Africa to match their support.
“We have been working with Safa‚ we are committed to strengthening their efforts to professionalise women football in the country. Because we understand that once you do that they will be able to train on a regular basis. They will be able to get the competitive edge they require.
“With the professional league‚ you are also able to generate more funding which we need because you need to pump as much resources as possible towards the growth of the sports and personal development of the players. We are going to work very closely with government and the minister has indicated that‚ he is committed to assist the girl child as much as possible and we also want to work on school sport and it goes across the board in all sports.”
Hlophe encouraged Banyana players not to despair after their underwhelming performances at the World Cup. “We view their efforts and lots of work that they have been doing as a milestone to greater things ahead. We know that they have not won in France but to us that doesn’t mean much because where they are now makes them stars in our eyes.”
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