Heideveld Female Football Academy (HFFA) captain, Malikah May, 25, a foundation phase teacher at Rio Grande Primary School in Manenberg, might’ve been keen to share some news with her pupils when she stepped into class on Monday.
Not all good, not all bad, but certainly a little something that would make the pupils proud that their Miss May led her side in the women’s Coke Cup final against eventual winners UCT, at Athlone Stadium, on Saturday.
Considering the bumper crowd present, some of the little ones may well have been up in the stands to watch their teacher and her teammates put up a gutsy performance in a 2-1 defeat.
The young educator has been wearing the captain’s armband for the past four years and plays at centre back.
“It’s an honour to have made it to the finals with the club I’ve been playing at for the past 12 years,” she said. “Walking into the stadium with teammates and coaches who’ve been part of my journey since the very start when I could hardly kick a ball,” she said.
Despite the disappointment of losing the match, May remains upbeat.
“It has been an absolute roller coaster with a lot of strong opponents, but I think that was the part that made it most exciting for us as a team because we had to go out there every second week and play our hearts out. We knew that achieving the objective of reaching the final and overcoming the semi-final barrier, would not be an easy journey,” said May.
“We played a lot of intense matches in the series, Hout Bay, Dangerous Heroes and Shosholoza, to name a few, but the quarter-final in Dunoon, in those brutal weather conditions, took a lot of strength and perseverance from the team to overcome especially against a team that had just beat us in the Sasol league in a league deciding match. And then the semi final, a day the club will remember for a long time. The team showed so much character on that day we fought a hard battle, and the support from the Heideveld community was a driving force, they kept our fighting spirits going and didn’t stop believing in us even when we went behind twice, they kept believing in us until the final whistle blew.”
As expected, May and company had their work cut out from the get go, with UCT coming at them at full force in the first quarter and going 1-0 up before the break, she said.
“Even though we were behind we weren’t despondent, we knew we had opportunities and we knew we could work ourselves back into the game. We just had to keep fighting, and we did just that when Kim (Mentoor) scored an absolutely brilliant goal within the first minute of the second half. We kept going after that and had our opportunities to seal the game but in the end it was UCT who took their chance and won the game. A big congratulations to them,” she said.
“Women’s football has taken a turn in the right direction, there’s a lot more support, recognition and respect being afforded to female players. That makes me very happy and it’s encouraging for young girls to witness the rise in women’s football. I’d like to applaud all who are actively involved in the development of female football from grassroots to national levels.
“I’m genuinely very happy about the rise in football. It was different for me than it is now. We didn’t always have all the support and recognition that the girls are receiving now but I’m happy they are afforded these opportunities and that people get to see the talent that the Cape Flats has to offer and the work that HFFA is doing with the youth,” she said.
Heideveld did not walk away empty-handed as midfield maestro Chantel-lee Carelse, 24, was named player of the tournament following an impressive performance throughout the competition.
A machine operator at a chocolate factory in Lansdowne, the accolade probably sweetened the taste of defeat for the star player, a member of the academy for the past three years.
She’s been playing since the age of 8, first kicking ball with the boys and later joining Young Idols FC.
“This is a huge achievement for me and it’s all because of all my effort I put in and my performance. I give 120% and think that made me stand out,” she said.
“UCT put us under a lot of pressure in the first half because we weren’t compact enough. Second half was way better because we scored our equaliser but UCT came back and made it 2-1,” she said.
“The game was literally in our hands but in the end both of us were worthy opponents to each other and the best came out shining,” she said.
HFFA chairman Yushrie Solomons had nothing but praise for the players. “Our road to the final was such an amazing experience. Looking back on the dominance we showed in the competition, it really gave us the sense that we are truly moving in the right direction,” he said.
“We also called up six under-16 players throughout the cup run, the youngest only 13 years of age featuring in the match day squad for the final,” he said.
“Our girls were outstanding and the highlight was to see our entire community pack the Athlone stadium and unite behind one cause,” he said.
The mood inside the UCT camp was understandably jovial with coach Ahmed Parker and his charges beaming with pride.
“Our main priority for the year was to gain promotion to the National Women’s League. We really had our hearts and minds set on that. Missing out by one point was heartbreaking, and thus made our journey to the final of this competition even more important to us. Now we’re grateful to have ended the season with some silverware,” he said.
In other action, Cape Town City was crowned under-18 champions, beating Ubuntu Academy 3-1 after leading 2-0 at half time and Hanover Park’s Diadora FC beat Mandalay’s Clover FC 2-0 to win the senior men’s division 2-0.