You need to stand your ground and advocate for the next generation of women athletes – irrespective of what society says!”
This is the bold statement and call to all women in sport by one of South Africa’s longest serving servants of women’s football, Mary-Jane Sokela.
Founder and director of Durban Ladies FC, one of South Africa’s oldest women’s football clubs, Sokela has been involved in sport for more than three decades, where her career started as a Javelin and Shot-Put athlete.
Post her athletics and brief football career as a goalkeeper, Sokela witnessed a growing trend of drug abuse, coupled with teenage pregnancy in local Durban townships such as Umlazi, Clermont and KwaMashu, and took it upon herself to gather young girls to play football as a diversion.
The Durban-based sport administrator’s relentless advocation of the women’s game was recently recognized by Engen when Durban Ladies FC became the first female club to host an Engen Knockout Challenge in the tournament’s rich 21-year history.
Cherry on top for Sokela was seeing her side advance to next month’s Engen Champ of Champs, where they will represent KwaZulu-Natal after being crowned provincial champions in the girl’s division.
While Sokela is today celebrated for being a true champion of the women’s game, it certainly has not been easy for the 62-year-old, who says women need to stand tall and make their voices heard. Be it on the field of play or in the boardroom where decisions about the women’s game are made, women must be vocal.
“We need to stand our ground. We should not be intimidated in this male dominated sport. Address your issues and don’t be silent. Ensure that you represent the next generation because they are the ones for the future, so we need to pave the way. Women must be vocal on and off the field because without that, then the next generation will continue fighting battles that we should have won”, says Sokela.
Touching on the growth of the women’s game from the early 90s to date, Sokela says a lot of progress has been made but believes women can only celebrate success once women’s football becomes truly professional.
“We have certainly come a long way since we started women’s football and that has to be acknowledged. However, we need to continue working hard and not rest on our laurels. I’m not happy with where we are at the moment because women’s football has been running in South Africa for as long as I can remember. I started my team in 1990 and since then, you can’t place a finger as to what is stopping the women’s game from being professional” she says.
“However, brands like Engen are clearly making a difference. Very few brands believe in women’s football, and we are truly grateful to Engen for leading by example and ensuring that girls are given an equal playing opportunity”, adds Sokela.
While a lot still needs to be done in growing the women’s game according to Sokela, her active role in growing women’s football in Durban certainly elevates her to one of the country’s most prized assets, in so far as the women’s game is concerned.
What initially started off as a diversion and fun exercise for teenage girls, Durban Ladies FC has grown and evolved into one of the country’s most formidable football clubs, and a trusted conveyer belt of women’s football talent.
Veronica Phewa, the only South African to play for Arsenal in England before plying her trade in the United States and Japan was groomed by the club, along with other Banyana Banyana legends such as Memory Makhanya, Nelisiwe Cele and Amanda Dlamini, who is now an astute TV pundit covering local and international football.
A bright and highly prosperous future awaits Sokela and her youngsters at Durban Ladies FC.
Thanks to the trust afforded to her by Engen through the hosting of a major event such as the Engen Knockout Challenge, Mary-Jane Sokela is proving that gender means nothing when it comes to capabilities in sport.