Former Banyana Banyana head coach, Fran Hilton-Smith (pictured) says women football “must be prioritised and not be an afterthought.”
The 72-year-old retired coaching instructor and former technical director of Safa National has weighed on Safa National’s decision to split the 16-team Hollywoodbets Super League into two streams of eight to so-call reduce the travel costs for participating teams – similar to the ABC Motsepe League’s Second Division format.
Needless to say, Hilton-Smith, one of the pioneers of women’s football in the country, has made significant contributions to the development of the women’s game. According to Hilton-Smith this move is definitely not in the best interest for the future of women’s football
“How do you expect them to be competitive when they come to Banyana (Banyana), Basetsana Bantwana?” Hilton-Smith pointed out to No Bones with Jones. “By doing this, it means that they will play less games. Competition is what it’s all about. Also, that is one thing, another thing is we used to have back in the day, interprovincial tournaments for boys and girls u15, u17, u20 and seniors.
“And that was a fantastic opportunity to bring talent together from all over the country and to be seen at one venue and that is how I used to pick the national team with all the selectors there, but that is all gone. So, it’s very difficult for a coach to go around and find talent.
“This creates a big but it happens in the men’s football too like for instance a club like (Mamelodi) Sundowns who snap up all the best talent in the country so that they have them but then a lot of them sits on the bench and when it comes to the national team, they not playing and that’s the problem,” she added.
This is why Hilton-Smith believes that women’s football should become more professional in order to level the playing fields as only certain clubs can afford to pay their players.
“It’s only Sundowns and TS Galaxy that can afford to pay (female) players money, you know. That is why players are willing to go there because obviously women’s football is amateur and they don’t get paid much and that is another thing that needs to be resolved is that women’s football needs to be professional.”
Hilton-smith also indicated that the onus falls on the governing body to ensure that the game is attractive for both male and female players in the country.
“It is an absolute must for more sponsors to be sourced, which is the job of the Mother body, to source the corporates in order to professionalise the game for women. That’s the only way to improve the standards.”
Hilton-Smith also wrote a book in 2021, titled FRAN A Song for Banyana which takes readers behind the scenes during her time at the centre of Banyana Banyana’s rise from dusty pitches in the townships to the biggest football stadia in the world – definitely an interesting read that gives a completely different perspective.
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