Paper Presentation VIII:
Women in Elite Sports
Sunday, April 11, 10.00–11.30

Cassandra Clark
Department of Sport and Movement Studies, University of Johannesburg

Women’s football in South Africa has seen a number of exciting developments in 2009, while 2010 will provide more opportunities for participation, exposure and integration in the football arena.  With the World Cup fast approaching and preparations well underway, many people have been asking, where are the women?  This paper explores the rhetoric and reality of South African Football Association (SAFA) and FIFA in 2009 through the voices of women (and some men) intimately involved with women’s football as coaches, players, referees, administrators and Non-governmental organization (NGO) practitioners.  SAFA has seen advances in 2009 with two new sponsors, league development and new exploits for Banyana Banyana (the senior women’s national team).  Women are being included in the 2010 World Cup preparations as promoters, organizers, supporters and Ambassadors, and NGOs are capitalizing on the opportunity the World Cup is offering to promote football at all levels, including opportunities for women.  Examples of women currently succeeding in this stereotypically male domain reveal that it is possible for women to succeed as administrators, coaches, referees and players.  However, vast inequalities still exist, bringing attention to unequal opportunities in media, sponsorship, and administration.  There is a spectrum of ideas on how to counteract these inequalities.  Some scholars, players and administrators believe that the best way for women’s football to develop is to have separate teams, leagues, and administration structures that are completely run by women.  At the other end of the spectrum is the call for gender integration and equal opportunities across men’s and women’s football.  Both arguments agree that in order for South African women’s football to continue growing, there needs to be a concerted effort to include more women at all levels of women’s football, as well as an increased penetration of women into men’s football and media coverage of these developments.