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Janine van Wyk will be captain of South Africa during her first participation in the women's World Cup finals in France this month.
The beginning of her football career in the early 1990s is a long way from what she was forced to play in a boys' team while she was starting out at a local club, Scaw Metals, in Germiston, east of Johannesburg.
Aged 32, she describes how difficult it was for her to continue her pbadion for playing football, the game played by her grandfather and uncles.
"At first, it was really hard to get in. The boys did not pbad the ball, they did not accept me in the team, so I was She was a little isolated from everything, "she explained.
"The reason I continued was the determination to do well, I knew I could be a good player, I was not weak, I could kick a ball and I loved it. play the game."
In addition to being a girl wanting to play what was really a human game in South Africa at the time, the young Van Wyk was also breaking the mold of Afrikaners badociated with the rugby.
Canton formation
Her search for a female team led her to the unknown environs of Spring Home Sweepers, a team based in Kwathema Township, also east of Johannesburg.
"It was difficult to get into the city, to train and play, but again, after a while, people have been very welcome," she said. added.
"I had used to attract a crowd to Kwathema stadium simply because people wanted to see this white girl play football."
It was only after receiving her first major awards – Player of the Year and Moroka Swallows Player of the Year – that the defender began to believe that she possessed the necessary qualities to make her career and of his life a success.
"My dream, like many others by my side, was to play for South Africa and I am touched by the road ahead," she said.
World Cup Qualification
After competing in the previous two Olympics with Banyana Banyana, including as captain in 2016, Van Wyk scored a new highlight in his career when the team qualified for his first Cup appearance of the world.
South Africa booked its tickets to France after defeating Mali 2-0 in the Africa Cup of Nations Cup semi-finals in December.
"I have been in the national team for 14 years and it is only after our qualification for the World Cup that people have approached me to discuss or take pictures," he said. she declared.
"It's a sign of how much the game has grown and developed in our country.Now, when I walk around a mall, every person wants to take a selfie and have my autograph."
The silver medal she won at the Women's Nations Cup is one of many, including jerseys that commemorated her 100th and 150th international appearances, as well as a photo of the late Nelson Mandela. .
"Looking at the medal, it reminds me of the final whistle we had when we qualified for the World Cup by beating Mali at the Nations Cup," she said. .
"I remember falling to the ground, tears of joy rolling down my face.
"It reminds me of all the struggles and the long way we needed to make this dream come true.
"My ultimate dream was to qualify to represent my country at the World Cup."
Bafana Bafana comparisons
The president of the South African Football Federation (Safa), Danny Jordaan, acknowledges that Banyana's performances in recent years, which have been crowned by the World Cup qualifiers, have given a major impetus to the game. the country.
"It creates a belief in women's football, and when you listen to people talking about women's football, they even suggest that this team is better than Bafana Bafana!" he said.
"Of course, that's not true, but you can see how it changed the way women's football was conceived, and the Banyana made their members aware that they were there to compete against the best of the world." world.
"Three years ago, there were less than 200,000 women playing football, we now have 456,000 female footballers, so there is an explosion of women coming to play football.
"Banyana's performances will accelerate growth, we hope to have one million football players and our players are some of the most skilled in the world."
The rise of Banyana coincided with the struggles of Bafana Bafana, the men's national team that was once ranked 16th in the world after winning the African Cup of Nations in 1996.
They have failed to qualify for three of the last six Nations Cup tournaments and have failed to qualify for the World Cup (in addition to accommodation in 2010) since 2002.
Neil Tovey, captain of the victorious team in 1996 and now technical director of Safa, believes that complacency may have played a role in the decline of Bafana.
"When you think you've done it, you do not put measures in place to maintain that level of play," he explained.
"We had somehow taken for granted that there would be a natural progression for the team to continue to qualify and continue to progress as it did."
Despite the rise and popularity of Banyana in South Africa, Tovey said the national men's team remained the flag bearer of the national football.
"Bafana Bafana will always be the flagship product – it's like that – but our women have made us really proud and they have created a huge awareness," he said.
"There is no comparison between the two, they should live side by side and be energized, and if we have a qualified Banyana and a successful Bafana Bafana, we will be a happy country.
Van Wyk agrees: "Now that Banyana is getting ready and qualifying for big tournaments like the World Cup and the Olympics, people are starting to compare the two and I think it's really unfair because I'm Believes that Bafana is struggling to qualify for the Africa Cup Nations.
"They are currently in the construction phase and we have to respect that."
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