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SuperSport might just have inadvertently stumbled upon a solution for South African football’s goal drought.
Last Saturday’s Nedbank Cup quarterfinal match between Bidvest Wits and Chippa United, which produced an avalanche of eight goals, was brought to DStv screens by a 52-member team, 90% of whom were women, “with only a handful of men playing supporting roles”.
The team included studio anchor Carol Tshabalala, Thato Moeng-Sibiya as the on-field reporter, former Banyana Banyana stars Simphiwe Dludlu and Amanda Dlamini on commentary, Nono Cele in the director’s chair and Zama Nkomo as floor manager.
Announcing this development last week, the broadcaster revealed that the broadcast was going to be “an 11-camera operation, with five of those operators being women. The key roles of vision controller, EVS operator, engineer, and event and production manager are also all women.”
At the time, SuperSport chief executive Gideon Khobane said: “Over the past five years, we implemented a plan to bring about much-needed change in the sports broadcasting industry by enforcing equal representation of men and women in our broadcast internship programme, fast-tracking career development for women in the production department and prioritising the need to have a woman in every role of production.”
He also promised to be “there to lend my support to them” during the broadcast.
This week, Khobane told City Press: “I decided to watch the match on TV to be able to get an overall picture of the production, but I did send a message of support to the team.
“I’m really proud of the women and what they achieved on Saturday. They took the opportunity presented to them with both hands and produced a broadcast of the highest calibre. Watching on TV, the feed was of the highest standard and I would have gladly offered it to international broadcasters.”
Veteran sportscaster Tshabalala, who has found herself being the only woman on many occasions while covering huge sporting events such as the World Cup, the Ballon d’Or and the Olympic Games, said: “It was totally different. I was very proud of the two commentators [Dludlu and Dlamini] because this was their first time commentating on a match. They are great analysts, but this was their first time as commentary. They did a brilliant job in a match that was not just an ordinary game.
“There are many women who are involved in this industry, but this was the first time that we had a team made up of 90% women. I was like, ‘Wow!’
“It really showed how far we have come as women in this industry. People are not aware of this because most women work behind the scenes.”
Tshabalala said she was overwhelmed by the positive response from social media.
“It was also amazing how the public responded. SuperSport is now a public company and it is important that we speak to and listen to the people. About 80% of the comments on our social media platforms about the broadcast were positive.”
Cele, who joined SuperSport as an intern in 2007 and directed the broadcast, said: “I have grown in this industry.”
From being an intern in the editing studio, she moved up to being an assistant producer for shows such as Back Pages and Mzansi Legends.
“I then became a producer for the NFD Show.”
Cele’s big break came when she was appointed as director/producer to run the broadcasting of the MultiChoice Diski Challenge, which is a PSL reserve side league.
“This show not only promotes young and unknown players, but gives an opportunity to people who had never worked on television before. I was tasked with guiding them. I felt very honoured with this appointment.”
Cele says she has paid her dues and earned her spurs, and would like to see even more women do it. She warns that it takes hard work to survive and succeed in this industry.
“There are many opportunities for women in this industry. However, people must not think it is easy. If you want to make it in this sphere, you must roll up your sleeves and be prepared to work long hours.
“You must also know that, when you knock off at say 1am, no one is going to pat your back and say: ‘Thanks, Nono, well done.’
“People must not think their looks or their voices will speak for them. It’s your hard work that will speak for you. There were times when I felt like crying when I saw people knocking off at 5pm and I knew that I still had long hours to work.
“Sometimes, I would miss birthday parties and other fun events because of work commitments, but it has been worth all the effort I have put in.”
