Grannies from different countries across the world are packing up their soccer kits to compete in a tournament to be hosted by Limpopo team Vhakegula Vhakegula Football Club.
The international tournament for grannies is set to take place from March 23 to April 1 next year in Tzaneen, with teams from the US, Togo and France participating.
Vhakegula founder Beka Ntsanwisi, who is popularly known as Mama Beka, told Sowetan that her team has played in Brazil, Russia, the US and France but they now wanted the world to come to Limpopo.
“It’s our time now. Gogos are tired of sitting at home and babysitting grandchildren. Take your children to crèche because we want to come together and enjoy ourselves as grannies of the world,” Ntsanwisi said.
She said hosting the international tournament had always been her dream, and that grannies had already started signing up to participate.
Ntsanwisi hopes the tournament will also contribute to the local tourist economies while creating temporary jobs.
She said teams that had already signed up for the tournament had committed to pay for their own travel.
“People have been asking me to organise this for years and now it’s finally going to happen. It is not about the number of teams that are coming but the idea of having teams from different countries playing in SA,” she said.
Vhakegula first grabbed SA’s attention in 2007, with people fascinated by the group of grannies running around the field in their doeks.
The head wrap has become a signature part of their attire and the ladies have made a name for themselves on the global stage.
Ntsanwisi said the team had already started training and preparing for the upcoming games.
The team members are 50 years and above, with the oldest member of the team being 86 years old.
“But you can’t run with us. We are fit and can run across the field for a full 45 minutes,” she said.
Pascalline Mensah Adjowavi, 51, from the Togo Football Grannies club, said they expected to arrive in SA on March 25.
Adjowavi, whose team has 157 members across the West African country, said they were inspired to establish the club in 2018 after seeing Vhakegula play against a French team on TV.
“We want to come and meet other grannies because we have become a big family all over the world,” she said.
A short video shows Jean Duffy and her friend Catherine, from a team called Lexpressas, based in the US town of Lexington, Massachusetts, excitedly telling Ntsanwisi that they cannot wait to come to SA “to play with all the grannies of the world and meet good competition”.
Duffy told Sowetan that their team has 80 players between the ages of 35 and 65 who play across different leagues.
She said they had hosted Vhakegula during their visit to the US in 2010 and visited Limpopo the following year.
“We are very excited to spend time again with the South African women that we admire so much,” Duffy said.
Ntsanwisi, a former radio broadcaster who was also awarded the Presidential Order of the Boabab in bronze for her philanthropy, said she started the initiative after realising that grannies in her community were neglected.
She said playing the sport helped the women to manage their stress levels while keeping fit and healthy.
mahopoz@sowetan.co.za
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