Mmabatho Rugby Club Chairperson and coach, Fana Mkhwanazi, is calling on the public to to show financial support to help develop future rugby stars.
In 2011, Mkhwanazi moved to Mahikeng where he volunteered with training sessions at Taletso TVET College as a player/coach.
Later, he joined forces with a friend at NWU Mahikeng Campus where they started teams from scratch for both girls and boys.
Currently, their ladies team competes in the Leopards Women’s League, where he hopes their participation will lead to further growth.
Speaking with Tlamelo Kganakga, Mkhwanazi shares his greatest ambition for women’s rugby and the importance of media support to amplify coverage of development clubs.
Fana Mkhwanazi is from Kwa Zulu Natal but reside in Mahikeng. It all started with helping with training sessions at Taletso TVET College as a player/coach, to now being the head coach and chairperson of Mmabatho Rugby Club and volunteering at NWU Mahikeng Campus.
He hopes to see more girls taking up rugby as it has so much to offer to build a career in sports and making it a norm and his wish is to be able to compensate players for their efforts not forgetting to see sponsors coming on to support the club financially.
The development coach who celebrates small achievements aims to see players from villages across Mahikeng and Mmabatho participating in provincial and national competitions.
Fana, thank you for chatting to us. Please tell us about yourself and where you are from.
Hello, I am Fana Mkhwanazi originally from Kwa-Zulu Natal but moved to Mahikeng in 2011 through schooling to take care of my grandmother who was staying alone.
Where did your love for sport begin?
My love for sport, in particular, rugby started in primary school where I played rugby between January and June and cricket from July to October.
Your love for rugby has developed as you are now into coaching and Chairperson of Mmabatho Rugby Club. Please tell us more about the club.
I registered at Taletso in 2012 and met a few guys who wanted to start a rugby team there, so I joined them only to find out that we don’t have a rugby coach and majority of my teammates didn’t have a clue about coaching the game, so I had to step up and run most of the training sessions which led me to be a player/coach for the Taletso TVET College team. So, from that moment my coaching interests grew, and I never looked back.
I coached and developed provincial players at Taletso TVET College between 2012 -2014, mostly females.
Then, my friend and I decided to start coaching at NWU Mahikeng Campus volunteering till to date. From 2015, we started to build teams from scratch for both females and males.
What local competitions does the team take part in?
The ladies compete in the Leopards Women’s League.
In your opinion, why is it important to have a girls rugby team in the area of Mahikeng/Mmabatho?
I think it’s very important that ladies do partake in this male-dominated sporting code and develop themselves to pave a way for a better future for them and their families.
How can young girls in the area who want to start playing rugby get access to your development program?
They can follow our MMABATHO RUGBY CLUB Facebook page or call us on our phone numbers posted on our page. Everyone is invited to be part of our growing family.
What are you hoping to achieve with Mmabatho Rugby Club?
We hope to have a lot of provincial and National players coming from our surrounding villages in Mahikeng/Mmabatho and that rugby becomes a norm.
What have been the highlights of your career so far?
I am more of a development coach, so small achievements mean a lot to me.
As a development club, what are some of the setbacks that you have had to endure?
I coach rugby out of passion but lack of funding to promote our goals and objectives as a rugby club set us back from time to time, so we really need financial support.
What is your greatest ambition for yourself and the club?
To see ourselves on top of the highest provincial league and be able to compensate my players for their efforts.
Lastly, what do you think we as media can do to amplify women and girls’ sport coverage?
This year has been much better than previous years because we could never watch a women’s rugby match on TV, but now we can tune in on the action as well.
A lot of sponsors like MasterCard have jumped in and we wish more could do so as well.
Photo 1 Caption: Mmabatho Rugby Club Chairperson and coach, Fana Mkhwanazi, is calling on the public to to show financial support to help develop future rugby stars. Photo: Supplied
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