New dawn on the horizon as Banyana Banyana bags new partnership

by Nomonde Simelane

Banyana Banyana, along with many other women’s sports teams in South Africa and around the world, have been at the centre of conversations surrounding equity in the sports world. Volkswagen has partnered with the women’s national football team as their official car partner.

This partnership is a significant one because despite constantly outperforming their male counterparts, they have faced hurdles that women in everyday life face, misogyny and sexism. These oppressive prejudices have allowed men to disproportionately benefit from certain things, while women are left behind. This is extremely common in the sporting world, where less is invested in women’s sports thus affecting even the livelihoods of these athletes.

Throughout the past few years, with the help of head coach Desiree Ellis and a cohesive coaching staff, Banyana Banyana has constantly fought for the same respect that men are easily afforded. Football specifically is a sport that initially was not played by women, therefore the pushback with women’s aspect is somewhat unsurprising.

In the spirit of equity, Volkswagen Group Africa has revealed their latest partnership with the South African Football Association (SAFA) which will focus on the development of young women and girls who have any aspirations in football.

“I think it’s amazing because you always see the big bus going to pick up a few players, now we are able to use one of the cars for women’s football. Not just for the senior team but for all national teams and I think that is so, so appropriate that VW has come on board to support women’s football because it is much needed,” said the Banyana Banyana head coach.

This partnership is a step in the right direction as we have seen a more concerted and deliberate effort to rally behind our women’s teams to give them the same amount of support the men’s teams are so easily afforded, considering that they tend to yield better results. We have seen immense support for the women’s teams this year, from the lady Boks team as they put their prices together after a change in coaching, to the Protea’s cricket team who just fell short in the World Cup final. The Spar Proteas have also recently completed a clean sweep against Malawi, picking up where they left off earlier this year.

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