Sports Team of the Year runners-up: Banyana Banyana and Proteas Women

Banyana Banyana

Making just their second Fifa World Cup appearance, South Africa’s senior women’s soccer side had people captivated and waking up in the early hours of the morning to watch the team rewrite history in Australia and New Zealand.

Pitted in a group with perennial World Cup participants Sweden, as well as daunting opposition in the form of Italy and Argentina, few people believed that Banyana Banyana would qualify for the round of 16.

Both the team and the coach Desiree Ellis believed this, though, despite a large chunk of the players coming from the domestic top-flight Hollywoodbets Super League, which is semi­-professional and has players still juggling work or school with playing soccer.

Nevertheless, the team became the first South Africa soccer side to reach the knockout rounds of a World Cup.

“[Our opponents] couldn’t believe that we don’t have a professional league. They called us students because the majority of us play in the Hollywoodbets, for universities,” said star striker Thembi Kgatlana.

The team achieved their memorable World Cup run despite having to fight the South African Football Association (Safa) to receive the financial package they deserved.

Proteas women

In February, the Proteas Women’s cricket team became the first senior South African side to make the final of an ICC Cricket World Cup.

The historic feat was achieved on home soil after a brilliant six-run win over England in the semifinals of the ICC T20 Women’s World Cup at Newlands in Cape Town. Unfortunately, they went down by 19 runs to Australia in the final.

South African opening batter Laura Wolvaardt finished the tournament as the highest run scorer. DM

This story first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick 168 newspaper, which is available countrywide for R29.