"They All Started Where We Are" Van Wyk
By Malose Wa Ga Lamola
South African women’s football success is making the leap from the swampy backwater into the world's well established professional leagues. Banyana Banyana skipper, Janine Van Wyk, took her rare and precious commodity- time- to chat to ShakingInk. Though, patience and football don't sit well together, Van Wyk calls for patience and allow the right cornflakes to rise to the top of the packet. She says South Africa has what it takes to rise to the very pinnacle of this arena. The heroic figure worshipped by so many aspiring footballers warns against comparing Hollywoodbets Super League to leagues that have stood the test of time. Van Wyk insists that instant success is built on sand and ebbs away just as quickly. The football loving public wants a quick fix, but the veteran Banyana defender says, that's unsustainable.
In Van Wyk's world, improvement is still innovation "We shouldn't compare any league in the world to what we currently have. Women's football is on the rise, and it's starting to get recognized more than ever in South Africa. Other countries also once started where we currently are, and they have invested a lot of time and money to make the leagues structured and competitive. That's something we should aim for instead of comparing." Emphasis Van Wyk.
Van Wyk left the South African shores to ply her trade in Scotland. In her brief stint in Scotland, she has attained adequate success. Winning the Scottish Women's Premier League with Glasgow City and earned a ticket to play in the UEFA Women's Champions League. Leaving JVW Girls Football Club to join Glasgow City was a sliding door moment. There was a farewell but no goodbyes from The Blue Diamonds. Without a doubt, Van Wyk is a prisoner without bars at JVW Girls Football Club. To leave that luxurious atmosphere and return to a league that still in its infancy stage says a lot about Van Wyk. Even those with the sweetest tooth get to the point where they want to try something apart from chocolate cake.
Her ravenous appetite for success forced Van Wyk to give up a safe perch for an uncertain future. "It was a tough decision to make when I decided to return to South African football. One of the main reasons of my return was the fact that my football club is growing tremendously, and it requires a lot more of my attention than before, but also because I've waited many years for a National League to be established in our country and of course I want to participate in it before I hang my boots one day." Said Van Wyk.
Confronted with a totally different culture in Scotland. She suffered an unexpected affliction- homesickness. Reminded her that she was now, a long-long away from home. Jenine's mother, Gwendoline Van Wyk, knew her daughter was 'special' when Janine started off playing in a boys team to realize her dream of becoming a professional footballer. Despite the odds stacked against her, Jenine refused to be diverted, and she now sits in the highest captaincy dressing room in the country. Van Wyk says the support she gets from her parents made it easy to switch from a snow prone Scotland back to Mzansi "My parents have supported me in whatever I wanted to do throughout my football career and of course as much as she was excited for me to live my dreams playing abroad, she was even more excited when she heard I'm finally staying. It's never easy being away from family, so her and I are both happy to see more of each other."
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In the tail end of the 2021 Hollywoodbets season, Van Wyk found her scoring boots and netted four goals in three consecutive matches for The Blue Diamonds. Van Wyk says she has been working on her sharpness in front of goals but credited her coaches both at Glasgow City FC and JVW Girls Football Club for affording her freedom to venture forward and find herself in more scoring positions. "I have always taken opportunities to score goals when I could, and not many teams I have played for in my career has granted me that freedom as a defender to take risks and get forward. When I went to Glasgow City, the coach allowed me that freedom and I found myself on the scoresheet quite often in Scotland too, so when I returned to SA, I managed to continue with the habit, and it has paid off," Said Van Wyk.
After beating both Nigeria and Ghana en route to winning the Aisha Buhari tournament held in Nigeria late last year, Banyana Banyana mentor, Desiree Ellis called for her side to be more consistent in putting super houses of African football to the sword. Van Wyk echoes Ellis sentiments, though the skipper believes more in getting the priorities right. "I do believe that we have all the capabilities to go and compete against top teams in the world. We need to start building a squad with consistency and commitment. It's important that we focus on our next important task which is qualifying and winning the Women's African Cup of Nation's before we look at competing against the best teams in the world. The preparation process for this is important. We have players that have had experience abroad and players that are doing extremely well in the Hollywoodbets league. With that mix of experience, together we can achieve big things for Women's football in SA." Concluded Van Wyk
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