Banyana Banyana player urges women to participate in sports

Banyana Banyana’s striker, Rhoda Mulaudzi, is encouraging women to participate in sports.

Speaking to Limpopo Mirror, Mulaudzi said sports was one of the ways that could be used to fight against social ills such as drugs and substance abuse, teenage pregnancy and gender-based violence. "I would like to urge all women, young and old, to participate in sports. Participating in sports makes a person to live a healthy life and socialize with other people rather than drinking alcohol and smoking," Mulaudzi said.

She was born at Tshimbupfe and is now applying her trade for the Apollon Ladies FC in Cypris. Mulaudzi said that she fell in love with football at a young age and she had never looked back.

"I used to play with boys at an early age and the sport that they loved was soccer, and I got used to playing soccer with them," Mulaudzi said.

She thanked the South African Football Association for initiating the Safa Women’s National League. "Even though there is still a gap between female and male sports, especially in terms of money, I hope that will change as the government is always talking about 50/50. I hope that it will also apply in sports," she said.

She was part of the Banyana Banyana squad that participated in the FIFA Women's World Cup in France recently. She said that her role models were Barcelona's superstar Lionel Messi and Australian association football player Samantha Kerr.

She previously played for teams such as Masukume, Mamelodi Sundowns, Nkuri II Experience, and Colchester Ladies.

Date:14 September 2019

By: Mbulaheni Ridovhona

The 22-year-old Mbulaheni (Gary) Ridovhona has been passionate about journalism to the extent that he would buy himself a copy of weekly Univen students' newsletter, Our Voice. After reading, he would write stories about his rural village, Mamvuka, and submit them to the very newsletter for publication. His deep-rooted love for words and writing saw him register for a Bachelor of Arts in Media Studies at the University of Venda, and joined the Limpopo Mirror team in February 2016 as a journalism intern.

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