Ria is a woman on a mission

On Monday, SA Football Association (Safa) vice-president Ria Ledwaba will start a six-week women in football roadshow that will end on September 18.

The programme has a two-pronged objective – a fact-finding mission on women’s football in the country as well as to lay the groundwork for the National Women’s League, which is scheduled to start in April.

Issues to be discussed during the roadshow include:

• Running leagues;
• The programme at the high-performance centre;
• National leagues;
• The status of woman referees, coaches and administrators in the provinces; and
• The much-anticipated National Women’s League.

“I want to gather as much information as possible from all stakeholders,” an enthusiastic Ledwaba told City Press this week.

She will set out to engage with different stakeholders such as regional football associations, provincial departments of sport and provincial sports commissions.

“We need to get a buy-in on which we can lay a solid foundation for the league,” she said.

Part of Safa’s Vision 2022 on women football was that all the 341 local football associations should have parallel women leagues for all the male versions they have, from junior teams upwards.

Ria Ledwaba,Banyana Banyana head coach Desiree Ellis and Simphiwe Dludlu share some light moment. Picture: Lefty Shivambu/Gallo Images

Currently, a 12-team national league is envisaged, which will be made up of nine provincial teams plus the Mamelodi Sundowns and Bloemfontein Celtic women’s clubs, and the winner of the schools women’s tournament.

“There have been some questions on why only Sundowns and Celtic will be accommodated in the national league,” she said.

“The answer is simple – the two [Premier Soccer League] clubs have been the only ones that have consistently had well-run women’s teams.”

While petroleum giant Sasol has been the pillar behind women’s football in Mzansi, sponsoring Banyana Banyana and the regional Sasol Women’s League, as well as committing to backing the national league, Ledwaba said there was talk regarding the need for a top-eight competition.

“We are still talking to our good sponsors, Sasol, to see if they would have the capacity to fund such a competition or if we should go out and try to source a different sponsor for this particular tournament.”

Womens meeting football schedule