eBusiness Weekly
Chipo Sabeta
FOOTBALL fans have united to express their dismay at the way Zimbabwe Football Association has treated female senior football before, during and after the 2019 COSAFA Women’s Championship in South Africa recently.
Despite not having adequate preparation where they got into camp five days before travelling to Port Elizabeth, the Mighty Warriors claimed bronze when they beat Botswana 3-0 at the Wolfson Stadium in Nelson Mandela Bay last Saturday.
After a hectic tournament, the women football team was made to travel a gruesome 1 000km from Port Elizabeth to Johannesburg by road.
“Road trip to Jo’burg from Port Elizabeth . . . hahaha Zifa CHIWORORO GUYS. Gara zviya mahrs mangani?” Neshamba posted on her Facebook page.
However, ZIFA spokesperson Xolisani Gwesela, leaped to defend the football mother body insisting that the road trip was the best option.
“ZIFA strives to ensure equal participation by male and female teams and that all teams are well catered for in order to promote optimum performance.
“The flights were fully booked, it’s not only Zimbabwe that have had challenges. Even Zambia had challenges, flights were fully booked, and so we couldn’t secure their return today.
“Remember when it’s a tournament you book your flights based on what stage of the tournament they reach,” he said.
After taking the road trip from Eastern Cape to Johannesburg, the girls based in Harare were paid $15 for transport upon their arrival at Robert Mugabe International Airport, while those based outside Harare checked into ZIFA village.
This publication is reliably informed that despite signing contracts regarding camp daily allowances of ($50), appearances fees ($150), winning bonuses ($625) and $310 for a draw, the ladies received nothing.
At a time when women’s football has certainly seen tremendous improvements in the time globally, the treatment of the Mighty Warriors leave a lot to be desired.
Recently, at the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup, the England women’s football team wore bespoke kits when they took to the pitch — the first time they won’t be sharing a kit design with the men’s squad.
The same stage, the Australian women’s football team were afforded equal investment than their men’s team got, when they were preparing for the 2018 World Cup.
The 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup, the most-watched edition of the tournament in history showcased how much progress the women’s game has made over the years, but coming back home it’s a completely different story.
In their maiden appearance at the Rio Olympics, their story was heard and made them heroes to the world but the residential stands promised after the global stage remains a mystery.
The path has seldom been not smooth for female players in Zimbabwe, who have had to fight their way in each step taken towards equal rights despite the lack of professionalism from the association.
Upon their return, Warriors striker, Rudo Neshamba, who made noise at the inequality, is said to have been interrogated by ZIFA officials over her social media post.
However, it is the silence of sports bodies like Football Union of Zimbabwe (FUZ), Sports Recreation Commission (SRC) over this treatment that is alarming.
Is female football in Zimbabwe less important? They are marginalised, less listened to or valued.
Sports followers have at the country’s national football federation on social media for the treatment meted out to female players.
“We ask FIFA and SRC to help the Mighty Warriors. Minister Kirsty Coventry this is the second time the team has been treated like rubbish by the association. $15 bond in Ecocash upon arrival and locally-based players told to go home,” a freelance sport journalist Tatenda Gondo fumed.
Despite being the world’s best female footballer, Ada Hegerberg was not named in the Norway team at the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
This is because Hegerberg , the first time a woman won an award being given to male footballers since 1956 — has not played for Norway since 2017 due to a “lack of respect” for women’s footballers.
“A lot of things need to be done to make the conditions better for women who play football,” she said after winning the Ballon d’Or last year.
“It’s all about how we respect women’s football. I don’t think the respect has been there.”
The plight of female footballers require urgent invention before the game fades away slowly.
