#LetsFixSAFootball | “Class and composure” - Wynberg Girls Junior football team shines in Denmark

Despite working with the team for just two months, former Bafana Bafana defender Roger Links said the Wynberg Girls Junior football team showed “immense composure" during their first international tour. 

A group of 17 young ladies, between 12 and 13-years-old, jetted off from Cape Town International Airport to Copenhagen, Denmark 

From there, the team travelled to the North Jutland town of Hjørring to compete amongst over 1,000 teams from 45 countries in the Dana Cup - a longstanding international youth football tournament. 

According to Links, their astute level of professionalism is what earned them the Fair Play Award, given to the team that showed the best sportsmanship.  

“Look, for them to win that award alone was really something special. It was insane how many people and teams were there. There were thousands of people and a lot of travelling," said Links. 

“But throughout all of that, these young ladies just showed up with the best spirit and always played with good intentions. They did not receive a single yellow card for the entire tournament and were just out there.

"I really think the Wynberg spirit came through when these girls were out there on the field otherwise they would not have won the Fair Play award."

The team made it to the knockout round, but fatigue had settled in and Links believes they lost a bit of concentration at the end. Nevertheless, this was a team from Africa playing amongst elite European football structures. 

Two wins, a draw and two losses were the outcome of their five matches in the Dana Cup.

“I think just the fitness aspect got to them a bit at the end. It was five games in total and a lot of travel in between. They are still children at the end of the day and it may have just been a lot. I only worked with the team for two months leading up to the tournaments.

"In football, that is a blink of an eye. It was not enough time but I tried to focus on the small things and roped in a psychologist to help prepare them and just learn how to stay calm in those situations. 

“For them to make the knockouts' round in the U13s' category made me proud as a coach, so I think we all came back home happy,” Links said. 

Team Manager Wendilee Melle said watching the girls lift the Fair Play trophy was one of her greatest highlights in the 18-years she’s been at the institution.

All but a few girls were accompanied by their parents to Denmark but the parents were not allowed to live with the team or management, Melle explained.This left a group of young girls alone together in a foreign country, which was an equally exciting experience next to the tournament itself. 

“I think they had fun just being there in Denmark and moving around together. I don’t imagine a lot of young ladies get a chance to leave the country with their school friends so this was such a special experience for them,” Melle said.  

“Somewhere along the way, I became ‘Mommy Melle' to the girls - a title I wore with immense pride. The tournament was nothing short of phenomenal. From the opening ceremony to walking through streets lined with crowds of cheering people. 

“Then just being in the stadium and waving the flag when they sang our anthem were moments we will treasure forever."

Melanie Sharland, Principal of Wynberg Girls Junior School, said the tournament and outcome has given the school a firm footing to stand on as they try to develop girls' football in the southern suburbs of Cape Town. 

“I cannot even tell you how proud I am of these girls, firstly as their principal and then as a fellow lady. Football is a really physical sport and for them to fly to another country, play and travel around and make it so far. We are so proud of them. 

“This entire performance has really come at a good time for us because we really want to grow girls football here in the southern suburbs here in Cape Town.

"Our soccer program is something we really want to develop because we can see for ourselves the success the national team is having and women's soccer as a whole. It’s not just a hobby anymore, it can be a lucrative career. 

“This experience gave them that confidence and belief in themselves to know they are able to compete at the highest level.

"It does wonders to a child when they can see they can actually do it and have the talent. They not only took the opportunity to go overseas and compete but did well and showed what South Africa has to offer,” Sharland said.