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Nigeria vs South Africa: Looking back to The Battle of Vosloorus

Police stand at the Makhulong Stadium during an international friendly between North Korea and Nigeria in Tembisa in June 2010 (Stephane de Sakutin/AFP/Getty Images)

The stage is set for the most riveting match of the African Women’s Championship group stage. Tomorrow (November 4) South Africa take on perennial champions Nigeria. It is a battle between Africa’s powerhouses and fierce rivals. A decade ago, Banyana Banyana and the Super Falcons teams met in an ill-fated AWC final at Vosloorus Stadium, about an hour’s drive from this year’s venues.

On Saturday, November 25, 2000, at least 25,000 spectators packed into the modest Vosloorus stadium. A reporter in attendance described what happened (City Press, 26 November 2000, p. 1):

“The trouble started after unruly, hotheaded Banyana supporters exploded in anger and frustration when Nigeria got their second goal with 18 minutes left on the clock. Local fans considered the goal illegitimate. With Nigeria comfortably up 2-0 in defence of their title, the hotheads started to vent their anger at the assistant referee on the eastern side of the stadium by hurling an assortment of objects, including beer bottles and stones at her. The besieged assistant, in fear of her life, raised her flag to indicate her plight to Cameroonian referee Akono Ondo. Then she sprinted to the safety of the western side, where the other match officials were.

Shortly after this, more objects rained incessantly onto the pitch, clearly aimed at the Nigerians. The situation got further out of control when Nigerian supporters were forced to scurry in all directions in a death-defying scramble from the eastern stands.

Pandemonium broke out when South African and Nigerian fans began hurling abuse and anything they could lay their hands on, including rocks, shoes and umbrellas, at each other. The besieged fans made up largely of many children had to run helter-skelter to avoid the life-threatening stampede. Some of the children were seen tumbling from high up in the stands as the panic-stricken crowd ran in all directions.

The high tension was taken to breaking point by irate fans who constantly pelted the Nigerian players with an array of dangerous objects, thus preventing the match from restarting. Confused match officials, including Safa’s Oliphant and its general manager Dennis Mumble, appealed for calm in the stadium. [. . .]

Once it became evident the game would not resume under the hail of missiles, aimed mainly at the stunned Nigerian players, the embattled officials reluctantly abandoned the game, much to the delight of the Nigerians. As the victors merrily paraded around the field with their trophy, the anarchy and confusion spread to outside the stadium, where wayward fans fought pitched battles.

In the process, police reinforcements came under attack when their vehicles were stoned by a rampaging mob.”

South Africa’s widely celebrated hosting of the 2010 World Cup suggests that a repeat of the violence of 2000 is highly unlikely. However, rampant xenophobia and a 50 percent poverty rate provide kindling that can be ignited by the sparks of football passion and the game’s paradoxical quality to unite while it divides. Check back here for my match report of the Super Falcons – Banyana clash.

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Hosting

Banyana beat Twiga Stars, but only just

http://www.sowetanlive.co.za/sport/2010/11/01/banyana-down-twiga-stars


With seven minutes left in the African Women’s Championship opening match between South Africa and Tanzania, the 1-1 stalemate seemed eerily reminiscent of the Bafana-Mexico World Cup opener.

True, the venue was 20,000-seat Sinaba Stadium in Daveyton, east of Johannesburg, and not the 95,000-seat Soccer City Stadium. True, tickets were free (kudos to the organizers). True, nobody on the pitch was a millionaire professional. Still, the capacity crowd’s patriotic fervor demonstrated that continental supremacy and 2011 World Cup qualification are nothing to sneer at.

83 minutes and counting. Banyana Banyana — as the South African women’s team is known — had the Twiga Stars pinned deep in their own end but just could not snap open the valiant visitors’ catenaccio.

Then everything changed. Banyana coach Augustine Makalakalane introduced US-based midfielder Kylie-Ann Louw into the game. Within seconds, Louw collected the ball in the middle of the park, turned and played a ball out wide. She continued her run into the box and received a delightful assist from the right flank. Louw’s one-timed strike was blocked by a Tanzanian defender’s extended arm: penalty! Sitting on the couch, beer in hand, I could almost hear the roar of the crowd above the deafening wailing goats of the vuvuzelas.

Star midfielder Mamello Makhabane, steely eyed yet relaxed, placed the ball on the spot. The weight of the Nation on her shoulders? Makhabane buried the PK with a crisp shot to the goalkeeper’s right. Laduuuuuuma!!

Maybe this is what it would have felt had Bafana’s lone(ly) Katlego Mphela finished his chance against Mexico, instead of hitting the post with a minute left . . .

In the dying moments of the Banyana game, the counter-attacking Twiga Stars got a player sent off for diving — a harsh second yellow according to the TV replay. 2-1 the final score. An exciting finish that must have left at least some television viewers clamoring for more AWC action.

Banyana play Nigeria next in the biggest contest of the group stage. Unfortunately, the 11am kickoff will preclude many, if not most, of us from watching on TV. What a glorious missed opportunity.

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Hosting Players

African Women’s Championship: Moving Ahead

http://www.safa.net/index.php?page=articles&id=136

The draw for the 2010 African Women’s Championship was held yesterday at the Birchwood Hotel in Ekurhuleni, east of Johannesburg. The official schedule released by CAF and SAFA reveals that matches will take place at Daveyton’s Sinaba Stadium and Tembisa’s Makhulong Stadium from 31 October to 14 November 2010. However, it remains unclear where each match is taking place and what the kickoff times are.

South African media covered the draw in perfunctory fashion. Local officials repeated platitudes heard daily during the 2010 World Cup: the tournament will market Brand South Africa, foster unity and pride, and so on. ‘This is yet another opportunity to put South Africa and Africa on the global map,’ said Ekhuruleni councillor Ndosi Shongwe in a typical remark. ‘We will be calling all our people to rally behind Banyana Banyana in the same way we did for Bafana Bafana during the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Bafana united us as a nation, now let’s allow the Women’s National Team to take over the baton. To us this is more than just winning the trophy; it is about uniting the country towards social cohesion,’ Shongwe added.

The bigger and more important question, however, is: what will be the impact of this tournament on the development and growth of South African (and African) women’s football at junior, amateur, and elite levels?

This is a crucial question given that the number of female players — mostly black — continues to grow alongside their ongoing marginalization and exclusion in a male-dominated football world. (Suggested reading: Prishani Naidoo and Zanele Muhoi,  ‘Women’s bodies and the world of football in South Africa,’ in Ashwin Desai’s The Race to Transform: Sport in Post-Apartheid South Africa (free download here)

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Hosting

African Women’s Championship: draw set, but no venues yet

http://www.morokaswallows.co.za/column.asp?id=8134

CAF announced that the final draw for the 2010 African Women’s Championship in South Africa will take place in Ekurhuleni (Gauteng) on 21 September.  The tournament runs from 29 October to 14 November, with Equatorial Guinea (defending champions), Cameroon, Nigeria, Ghana, Algeria, Mali, Tanzania and hosts South Africa to be divided into two round-robin groups. The top two teams from each group advance to the semis.

But with barely a month to go we are still in the dark about where and when matches will take place. This inexcusable delay makes it more difficult for fans and media to participate in and cover the premier event in women’s football on the continent.

Meanwhile, South Africa’s women’s team, Banyana Banyana, lost 0-2 at home to Cameroon in its last match. Mail and Guardian blogger Siphiwe Hlongwane characterized it as ‘another painful reminder of how far behind we still are when it comes to the women’s game.’ Commenting on South Africa’s humiliating 10-1 loss to Germany in the Women’s Under 17 World Cup, my good friend Thabo Dladla noted in his column today: ‘You cannot have a national U17 team while girls are not playing football in primary school.’

Whether it’s properly hosting a major tournament, building competitive national teams, or developing youth football, for meaningful change to happen, as Hlongwane says, ‘Women’s football needs to be treated with respect.’