Women’s sport is trailblazing for SA with the cricket and football teams continuing to inspire future generations on the field of play.
In cricket, the Proteas achieved a historic milestone yesterday by beating England to reach the Women’s Cricket World Cup in the tournament held in India and Sri Lanka.
A day earlier, Banyana Banyana flew the country’s flag high by qualifying for the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations 2026 by beating the DRC. The significance of the tournament is that the top four nations in the competition will automatically qualify for the 2027 Fifa Women’s World Cup in Brazil.
The achievements of both teams reflect the growth of women’s sport both in SA and globally. Yet as we celebrate their great feats, we must also take time to reflect on the glaring disparities in how women’s sport is treated versus men’s, both in financial terms and support.
The brilliant progress of our Proteas at the Women’s Cricket World Cup, for example, has largely been muted.
Under the leadership of skipper Laura Wolvaardt, who has been phenomenal with the bat, the Proteas team long proved its mettle from the early stages of the tournament. They cruised through their first four matches with convincing wins against the likes of New Zealand, Sri Lanka and the stubborn Indian team until they stumbled against favourites the Aussies on Saturday.
Throughout these glorious moments, not much buzz was being made about this special group of women who have raised our flag high. Yes, some noise was made when spinner Nonkululeko Mlaba received a demerit point for waving a cheeky “goodbye” gesture to Indian batter Harleen Deol after taking her wicket. But the noise ended there.
Hardly any newspaper carried their photos of celebrations and even on the radio their triumphs were mentioned as a box-ticking exercise in the sports bulletins.
In fact, a few fans rocked at pubs to sit out their games with a pint, like they would for Boks, Bafana Bafana and Proteas men’s games.
Although still dominated by men, the sport of cricket belongs to everyone who enjoys it. It is unacceptable that women must go an extra mile to prove themselves before they are celebrated in the so-called male sport.
We applaud the Proteas team for their heroics in reaching the final and look ahead to welcoming them at OR Tambo International Airport when they return with the long-awaited glory.
Sowetan
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