It has been the week, and the year, of South Africa’s sporting female fighters.
From cricket’s Proteas to Banyana Banyana to the Netball Proteas, women’s team sports are showing the way even in the traditionally male-dominated sphere.
This reflects the growth of the women’s game in team sports like football and cricket globally.
Research has shown the 2023 Fifa Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand will show 57% growth in avid followers from France 2019, equating to 543-million new fans. It has already broken records for the most tickets sold and is on track for more than two-billion TV viewers.
The 2023 ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in South Africa showed growth in global viewing hours to 192 million, a 44% increase from the 2020 event in Australia.
More than 20-million people play netball in more than 72 countries.
These are big events in big sports and globally they are big business, and the women’s versions still have growth potential far outweighing the men’s game.
Their exemplary example has shown the way for the men’s teams to follow in the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France in September and October and 2023 Cricket World Cup in India in October and November in India.
In this environment the Proteas reached the T20 World Cup final, losing but not disgraced, to women’s cricket behemoths England in Cape Town in February. On Wednesday Banyana progressed as the lowest-ranked team in group G of the Fifa Women’s World Cup last 16, with a dramatic 3-2 win against Italy. They are the first South African senior national team to progress to a World Cup knockout stage.
They have improved unrecognisably from the babes in the wood who lost all three games in their only other World Cup four years ago. This has been done through working themselves to the bone, gaining experience in clubs around the world, culminating in winning last year’s Women’s Africa Cup of Nations, which was a huge boost in confidence going to the World Cup.
On Wednesday night the Netball Proteas, with their backs against the wall because of one slip-up with a defeat to Jamaica, in a 2023 Netball World Cup format that has left the uninitiated befuddled, pulled off a spectacular, final three seconds draw against defending champions New Zealand to keep themselves in with a chance of the semifinals.
After Jamaica did South Africa a favour beating New Zealand on Thursday, the Proteas could not manage the near-impossible 64-point gap they needed against Uganda, beating them by two points. But they have been models of professionalism and competitiveness, thrilling the crowds at Cape Town International Convention Centre.
There is a lesson from sport to wider society that in leadership roles in South Africa, women remain one of the most under-used resources the country possesses. The Netball Proteas, the women’s cricket Proteas and Banyana have been South African sport’s fighters in 2023.
Their exemplary example has shown the way for the men’s teams to follow in the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France in September and October and 2023 Cricket World Cup in India in October and November in India.
There needs to be more women leaders in all spheres — CEOs, chairs of the board, presidents — leading the way in similar fashion with the confidence, swagger, professionalism and drive of a Banyana or Protea sports player.
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