Friday in Cape Town, the University of the Western Cape (UWC) inaugurated the She-Bobo soccer league for girls in the Under-10 and Under-8 age divisions.
Danny Jordaan, president of the South African Football Association, says the inauguration of the league could not have happened at a better moment.
“It is a project about which we are ecstatic and which we will provide support. This is in the context of our quest for the Women’s World Cup in 2027,” Jordaan explained.
“We will announce our intention to bid, and then Fifa will describe the complete bidding procedure… about the time that She-Bobo will be released. Indeed, it is a good idea,” he remarked. “UWC has contributed to it.” More than fifteen members of our national team are UWC graduates, both in terms of athletics and studies. It is not surprising that 80 percent of the Banyana team are graduates, given that many of them are graduates. It is a practice we endorse. We hope that these young females will someday enroll at a university to pursue their education. This is of the utmost importance: sport and education, not a decision between pursuing a sporting career and an education.”
Professor Tyrone Pretorius, rector and vice-chancellor of UWC, stated, “It is our aim that She-Bobo will serve as a model for how universities across the nation may engage communities via sport and become the agents of social change as the pillars of our society.
“As we celebrate our Wafcon champions, we welcome the She-Bobo at UWC league’s new crop of rising talents. We will be following the journey of these young superstars closely, from goals to graduation gowns.”
In 2023, She-Bobo at UWC will include soccer clubs from surrounding areas and across the metropolitan area to compete in their own league. As a preview of what is to come, UWC will host a showcase football festival on October 22 at the UWC Stadium, where female footballers from ten clubs will compete.
In 2021, UWC’s senior women’s football team placed third in the Hollywoodbets-sponsored national football league and won the renowned 2021 Varsity Women’s Football competition. Thembi Kgatlana, a former African Women’s Footballer of the Year who played in the European Champions League and scored South Africa’s first-ever goal in the women’s World Cup, is among its alumni.