Women in sport: The biggest stage awaits Noko

Noko Alice Matlou of South Africa during the COSAFA Womens Championship semi final match between South Africa and Uganda at Wolfson Stadium on September 20, 2018 in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. For a 33-year old, Noko Matlou still looks sharp as a razor and has still the speed that saw her score many goals when her Banyana Banyana more than a decade ago.After all, when she began with her Banyana journey, women’s football in the country wasn’t as popular as it has grown over the past few years.

“Playing with boys is what most of us girls start our football journey. We start playing in the streets and we would play for almost the whole day. It was really fun, but you know parents don’t really think it’s a good idea to be playing with boys, especially playing soccer because they expect us to be playing with dolls and do girly stuff.”

However, that all changed when the team finally managed to secure a spot at the finals after finishing as runners up at last year’s Africa Women’s Champions and qualifying as one of the three national teams to represent Africa in France next month. “When we qualified I was over the moon, but I knew it was coming because we have a very good squad and we have improved a lot over the years. It was about time and we finally did it and we have to be thankful of the support from everyone in the country, especially our sponsors Sasol, Safa and of course, the fans.”

And having been in the team for so many years, one might think Matlou has started to think about her hanging boots, especially looking at the fact she managed to be part of the Banyana team that reached their maiden Fifa World Cup and she will forever be in the football history of the country.

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