After enduring a year of the title being taken from them, the UWC women's football team fought back to claim the title as the 2023 varsity women's cup winners.
After their 2021 victory, UWC women’s football team was beaten by University of Johannesburg (UJ) and took the cup in 2022. UWC was adamant to take back the title in 2023 in a nail-biting game last Saturday.
A humbled Thinasonke Mbuli, the head coach of the team, said though overjoyed, she could not take all the credit alone.
“I was away and busy with the Women’s World Cup and the team was under the care of my assistant coach, Mr Mvalo, who ensured the team was prepared for the tournament. There are initially 20 teams and then they are downscaled to just 8 teams,” she said.
Assistant coach Msekeli Mvalo said he was happy the team won and said he was sure to utilise the instructions issued by Mbuli while she was away.
“I ensured that the girls maintained training and used the instructions by coach T, which was a skeleton for our success. We had just come back from the Hollywood bet league, so we were already training. We trained three days a week to maintain fitness,” he said.
Mvalo admitted that Tuks (University of Pretoria) and UJ kept them on their toes throughout the tournament, especially UJ as they lost to them in 2022.
Mbuli said though she was happy about winning, she said women's football in South Africa was still not getting the recognition it deserves.
“We require members of the media to assist us in increasing viewership of women football games and give the credit women’s football deserves. The sport is growing so fast and women are doing well in it,” she said.
Mandla Gagayi, the director of sport at UWC, said: “It always gives us great satisfaction when our teams win because it gives us the assurance that we are doing the right thing.
“We don't only celebrate the wins on the field, every win is a big step towards changing the historical narrative about UWC. The football victory is especially important because it comes during the women's month.”