It’s been a long and testing journey to the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations for Desiree Ellis, who is now undoubtedly becoming South Africa’s greatest ever women’s football personality.
Like many women, “Coach Des” started out having to join boys so that she could play the game she loved. It’s often an influence from the family member, maybe a brother or cousin played football and then as a girl you’d join the boys and start seeing that you can keep up or were even better than some of the boys.
Back in her days, there were no existing leagues or football platforms for women to showcase their football skills. What made matters worse was that it was frowned upon in most communities when a girl preferred to play football outside with the boys instead of dolls with the girls inside the house.
And they wanted to play sport, the girls’ sport was netball.
Yes nina ma2000 (yes you 2000 kids), this was every football-playing young girls’ reality back then.
It’s because of the likes of Coach Des who was able to stick it through and eventually made it onto the list of the national team from the very beginning.
Women’s football wasn’t a full member of the South African Football Association (Safa) according to Ellis’s then-Banyana Banyana teammate Gloria Brown, who says she served as secretary of the SA Women’s FA when she stopped playing for the national team.
So like many in the squad in those days, Coach Des was forced to juggle her job and playing for the national team that only recognised women’s football as just an affiliate member of the association.
Brown was there and had the same tough decisions to make between saving her job or playing for Banyana.
Brown, who went on to become the first woman sports commentator, tells the Daily Voice: “She [Desiree] lost her job and she was unemployed because of her commitment to the national team.
“There were many others who suffered and lost jobs and some of us were lucky that we were able to shift things around but eventually I had to start saying no and give up on something that I love because I had to choose my job and my family.
“So remembering that, how some of the ladies were forced to make some really big decisions to be able to be part of the national team, this championship means so much more because I know how much Des gave up to be there.”
The status of SA women’s football has since risen over the years and there’s even talk of equal pay for the women and men’s national teams.
The USA announced equal pay for the men and women teams, Norway has been doing it and now Spain has announced equal pay for national teams as well.
And with Banyanas’ performances at tournaments and that they manage to get results are justifying their case.
The women’s senior national teams are outperforming their male counterparts.
And now Banyana have got that one title that they needed to seal the deal and make their case as the best SA national football team.
Coach Des told South African Football Journalist Association (Safja) Journalist of the Year, Lorenz Kohler after winning the big prize: “It makes it all worthwhile [to make the sacrifices].
She referenced Nigerian sport presenter Colin Udoh’s article ‘South Africa are the best team in Africa, now they need a title to prove it’ and added: “He said that we’re the best in Africa but we can only be classed amongst the best once you have this [medal], and we’ve got this gold medal and it’s all worthwhile!
“We’ve had a lot of heartache along the way, we got knocked out of the Olympics, we lost the final in 2018 (Wafcon against Nigeria), we lost the Cosafa Cup recently. But we knew where we were going, we knew this was the ultimate.”
The Banyana conveyor belt has been producing top quality young players from goalkeeper Regirl Ngobeni who won the inaugural Goalkeeper of the Season award and was only included as third choice in the squad to the tournament’s best keeper Andile Dlamini and Kaylin Swart.
Coach Des is spoilt for choice up front as well and could afford to leave the league’s leading goal scorer Andisiwe Mgcoi behind with Rhoda Mulaudzi and go with Gabriela Salgado and Jermaine Seoposenwe and Thembi Kgatlana as the attack for the tournament.
There was increased pressure on her as Salgado and Kgatlana got injured and had to be sent home. But Coach Des credited Kgatlana for inspiring during a truly testing period in Morocco.
She says: “From the word go when we started our training, the players were really determined and the players have absolutely magnificent, during a time when we lost first Gabriela [Sogado], then we lost Thembi [Kgatlana].
“It was a bit of a sombre mood, but Thembi made the players understand that we still have it in our hands. Then we had the Covid cases we didn’t know who we were gonna put out, but the president [Patrice Motsepe] and Safa came through for us and helped us with that.”
Now that Africa is done, another former national star Jo-Anne Solomons the World Cup is SA’s next aim.
She tells SAFM: “When we played the Wafcon we always came second and we never qualified for World Cups, but we won all the Cosafa Cups.
“But now as a coach she’s qualifying the team for the second time for the World Cup, she’s been to the Olympics with the team, she’s taken to the final every time, for me I take my hat off to Desiree Ellis.
“When I speak to the Banyana players, Desiree has told me this is the team she wants to take to the World Cup and maybe win the World Cup if the fighting spirit is there.”
Banyana have secured qualification for 2023 Women’s World Cup which will be co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand next year in September.
One thing’s for sure, when they mention Desiree Ellis and South Africa’s name at the World Cup, they will say head coach of African Champions Banyana Banyana!
dailyvoice@inl.co.za