Though slow and maybe late at times, one can see progress being made in the quest to shrink the visibility gap, narrow the gender pay gap, securing more sponsorships and media coverage for women in sport.
For the above to be consistently possible, it is through initiatives such as gsport, and individuals such as Jaco Coetzer. Organisations and individuals who have taken the bold and sometimes risky step of doing their bit to invest in the global sporting gem that is women in sport.
Born and bred in Ekurhuleni, Coetzer established the Gauteng Women’s Rugby Institute, this after realising how little the exposure and support is for Women’s Rugby. His is the first high-performance programme in Africa focusing on women’s rugby. The purpose of this much needed institute is to produce well-rounded athletes who are excellent players on the pitch and in academics.
Through this institute, players have gone on to represent senior provincial teams, even donning the coveted green and gold of the Springboks.
Lonwabo Nkohla caught up with Coetzer to learn more about the incredible work done by this institute in her hometown, the east of Johannesburg.
Jaco, thank you so much for speaking to gsport. Could you please give us a brief background of The Gauteng Women’s Rugby Institute and how it came about?
We hosted the Rugby Africa Women’s Cup in 2019 and I then realized how little exposure and support women’s rugby gets in South Africa. This was a world cup qualifying tournament which we won with massive scores against Madagascar, Uganda and Kenya. But not much was even said in the media. In fact there was not even a trophy for this tournament and I asked the City of Ekurhuleni to donate a trophy. Then COVID19 came and I had to start thinking out of the box…
Our school system for girls is quite strong with national SARU weeks, national winter games, national summer games and the OR Tambo Soncini Social Cohesion games. However, there is no real support when the girls leave school. Bearing in mind that 99% of female rugby players comes out of townships, from a life of poverty and struggle, including challenges like gender based violence and would very little to eat. So, I came up with an idea to start a high-performance program where the girls can be able to stay at a safe place, eat 3 meals a day, be able to train in a high performance environments and still be able to study.
We could not, however, follow the same structure as the male high-performance programs or academies as we could not ask any girl to pay towards the program, because then we would be doing it for the wrong reasons and we would then exclude a lot of girls that would never be able to pay towards such a program.
We needed to give everyone the same opportunity and, at that stage we had the backing of the provincial government, the Gauteng Sports Confederation, SASCOC and the local government. So it made sense to try and get at least 40 students in and see if we can make a difference in their lives with a proper life-skills program, high performance program and a study program.
What is the main aim of the Institute?
The main aim of the institute lies within in our vision: “Be a good citizen, a good student and then the best rugby player you can be”
We equip the girls to become coaches and referees. In fact, the under 15 , 16 and 18 provincial sides get coached by the students already. Women should coach women’s rugby and I will fight for that every day.
We need nothing but a positive experience for these ladies, they should also be geared for the world outside of rugby – to be able to look after themselves and no rely on any man to look after them and then ultimately abuse them.
Being the founder of the FIRST high-performance programme in Africa focusing on women’s rugby means you had to take a risk many wouldn’t’ve dared to take, why did you feel the need to make this investment in women’s rugby?
You are correct in saying it was a big risk. Most people said that we will not make it, but I kept on fighting and will keep on fighting for these girls who would otherwise never have such an opportunity in their lives.
Which teams, and/or schools do you work with? Is it only exclusive to Gauteng?
We work with around 85 schools and Ekurhuleni and Sedibeng that started playing rugby. The 40 students that we have at the hostel are between the ages of 18 and 24 and they come from all over the country, but around 50% of the girls are all local girls.
What are some of the highlights of the Institute – any players that have gone to join the provincial or national squads?
Springboks
Maxine Engelbrecht
Edwaline Dickson
Ayanda Malinga
Lerato Makua
7 players represented the Blue Bulls Senior Female Teams
7 players represented the Mastercard Golden Lions Team
23 players represented the Valke Senior Team
Stompi Catherine Lowane – Head Coach Under 18 Provincial Team
Sinelitha Noxeke – Assistant Coach of the Under 18 Provincial Team
Palesa Mochabo – Team Manager for the Under 18 Provincial Team
Chantaleze Harmse – Head Coach of the Under 16 Provincial Team
Lesogo Mdhluli – Assistant Coach of the Under 16 provincial team
Kheselina Rens – Team Manager for the Under 16 provincial team
So we are very proud of our players that reached higher goals and playing for the national and provincial sides. We are just as proud of our women coaches. We are one of the only Provincial Unions that appoints females only in coaching and management positions.
Women’s Rugby is growing rapidly in the country, we are seeing the Springbok Sevens Women and Springbok women get more support from SARU and play games more regularly. In your view are we making progress in trying to close the gap between the women’s and men’s game?
Federations get most of their funding through the selling of broadcasting rights. If we are not going to see more provincial and national games being broadcast then we will never be able to close the gap. Remember sponsorships need a return on investment and the only thing that they really invest in is exposure. Therefore, we also need to get the media on all platforms to assist with this exposure. Without funds we will not be able to train these girls in proper high-performance structures. Women’s rugby is not even getting more than 2% of the Union’s budgets. This is embarrassing and an insult to gender equality in South Africa.
What are your dreams for the future of Women’s Rugby and the Gauteng Women’s Rugby Institute?
The dream is to open more of these institutes/academies so that we can try and close the gap with proper strength and conditioning programs, proper diets and a study programs to have something to fall back on.
The biggest dream is that people’s eyes and hearts will open to see what we are doing and that whatever we do has never be done before. We are doing the right things for the right reasons, but we need the support from government and the private sector.
Photo 1 Caption: Jaco Coetzer, the founder of the Gauteng Women’s Rugby Institute, which aims to produce well-rounded athletes who are excellent players on the pitch and in academics. Photo: Supplied
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