Rondebosch-based Magic Ladies FC walked away winners following a 1-0 win against Gugulethu’s Cape Town Roses, in the senior division of the Dream Cup tournament, at the William Herbert sports ground, in Wynberg, at the weekend.
Hosted by Spurs Women’s FC, the fourth edition of tournament featured 18 senior women’s sides and five under-14 teams.
Besides lifting the trophy, Magic dominated the competition and bagged most of the individual awards, including captain Jamie-Lee Witbooi being named midfielder-of-the-tournament, shot-stopper Yushra Khan goalkeeper-of-the tournament and star striker Jade Jones, the tourney’s top- goalscorer and earning a well-deserved player-of-the-tournament accolade.
Newly-appointed technical staffer, Astrid van Kesteren, was understandably delighted with the result as this was her debut tournament as Magic Ladies FC goalkeeper coach.
Van Kesteren knows all too well that the women’s game is highly competitive, having played in the top flight for many years, at national level and in last year’s Cup of Dreams tournament.
A firm believer that more women should be involved in all aspects of the game, the veteran goalkeeper, who is still a registered player, decided to switch to coaching after attending the country’s first ever all women’s goalkeeper coaching workshop hosted by acclaimed goalkeeper coach, Farouk Abrahams, at his academy in Wynberg in 2022 and completed her Level 2 coaching licence earlier this month.
“Female footballers may sometimes respond differently than male footballers to training demands and performance,” she said.
“It’s important to develop girls’ soccer because there are so much more opportunities now than previously, to be scouted to play football or get a football scholarship to study overseas. The sky is the limit, she said.
Happy with the side’s performance at the weekend, Van Kesteren says more should be done to promote the women’ game.
“At grassroots level, we do not have a lot of girls teams to play each other in a league. Some girls start playing grassroots football in boys’ teams from under-7 onwards, but when they get to the age of 13 years, the girls look to join clubs that have senior ladies teams,” she said.
“More schools and clubs must come on board to develop girls football. Women’s football in South Africa needs more investment like funding from the government, sports organisations and sponsors, as well as more support from fans,” she said.
For now, she says, the spotlight is on the players and allowing them to celebrate their victory, at least until the next cup final.
