adminTHERE is an idiom which says “behind every successful man there is a strong woman”. This means that many men owe their achievements in life to women. It means that for most of us that find some success in areas such as in business it is because we were lucky enough to have a great woman in our life that supported us and continues to support us as we achieve.
Our wives motivate us in everyday of our lives to be better persons and they elevate men to greater heights. In a nutshell women are said to be the secret reason why men do just about every worthwhile thing.
However, we wonder if women are such a powerful force, a doyen of good tidings and success, why are they failing to respond to distress calls coming from their colleagues of the same sex?
In last week’s edition of this publication we carried a story on how the former Zimbabwe women football powerhouse, New Orleans is facing a bleak future. The team is struggling to raise funds to fulfill fixtures in the national Zimbabwe Women Super League.
While the club managed to raise registration fees they have not yet secured funding for transport and match officials’ costs, a scenario that might lead to their withdrawal from the top-tier women’s league.
Things have not been helped by the ZWL’s failure to attract sponsorship meaning that the cash-strapped women’s clubs, already living from hand-to-mouth, have to dig deeper into their “empty” pockets to meet operational costs. These include transport costs, players, and referees’ allowances.
This only just mirrors the problems affecting the girl child as she strives to make it in the world of football.
While the sport has continued to grow both regionally and internationally, in this country it continues to be dogged by a myriad of bottlenecks including lack of corporate support.
On their part the girls have shown their athletic ability in their chosen field and deserve the celebration and recognition befitting their talents, both in terms of growth and remuneration.
That is why today we hasten to remind all and sundry of the involvement of “luminaries’’ such as the late Haverson Masilela, the founder of New Orleans and his predecessor, Khanyiso Mafika Bhebhe, Mufakose Queens’ Stephen Rusito, now defunct Maton Queens director Mbonisi Mathuthu, and Inline Academy director Trust Kwembeya.
Ndolwane Super Sounds lead singer Martin Sibanda, also contributed to the cause of the girl child, when he recently gave a helping hand to New Orleans by paying their registration fees to play in the national league, while a local businessman forked out $550 for affiliation and player registration fees.
In 2009 LG Foods director Larrence Gwati gave out a total sponsorship package of R40 100 for the running of the Bulawayo Province Women Soccer League. It was a princely sum which few companies then could part with, more so to the development of the girl child.
As sworn advocates of the upliftment of the girl child we rightly had every reason to celebrate the LG Foods gesture. We knew how harsh our economic climate was and for a corporate entity to chip in that way was certainly a great sacrifice for a great cause to be applauded. Gwati went on to sponsor Inline Soccer Academy.
Ironically, all the women’s game benefactors we have mentioned above are all men. Where are/were women in the girl child’s hour of need?
Will it be mischievous then to say “behind every successful girl child is a man’’, basing that on the strides the girl child has managed thanks to the involvement of men in women’s soccer?
In ways that threatened their own survival in their quest to uplift the girl child, these men, have, over the years, poured in a lot of money to groom players for the Mighty Warriors and for markets outside the country. No woman has significantly complemented their efforts.
The last time we heard about serious involvement by a woman in the sport was during the time Bulawayo businesswoman, Tryphine Nhliziyo who through her Gugulethu Football Club project, bankrolled both the girls and boys teams.
It was through her financial efforts, that she harnessed about 15 teams in a league in which she treated each club as hers. Infact many will tell you that you can’t talk of girls soccer without mentioning this lady.
As we speak now there are no proper leagues running at regional and provincial level. Which means development at grassroots is at a standstill. And yet those levels are supposed to be troughs where the national team should feed from.
The long and short of it is that since “behind every successful man there is a woman,” our local business women should now turn that God-given attribute, to redirect some of their resources to women’s football so that girls can also realise their dreams of becoming great players, just like their counterparts in other countries.
To female businesspeople in this country, and there are many of them, instead of concentrating on beauty contests, there is also “beauty” in seeing the girl child prosper in her chosen career, in this case football.
After all what is good for the goose is also good for the gander.
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Online Reporter