Football analyst and blogger, Tebogo Motebejane, dreams of following in the footsteps of Amanda Dlamini, Simphiwe Dludlu and Gloria Brown as she hopes to make her mark in the sport industry.
Hailing from Mafefe in Limpopo, Motebejane began her journey in the sport industry writing match reports and profiling sport content creators on her own platform – Precious Sports Expressions – and hopes to write for well-known publications one day.
She also aims to make a mark on televisions screens as she says her greatest ambition is to share her insights with a larger audience.
Reflecting on what 2021 has been for women’s sport, Motebejane says Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies winning a treble tops her list as it encourages young girls to dream big.
Apart from her love for sport, Motebejane is passionate about education and is currently studying towards teaching.
Speaking with Tlamelo Kganakga, Motebejane reveals where her passion for sport comes from and shares advice to aspiring women in sport media.
Tebogo, thank you for chatting to us. Please tell us more about yourself and where you are from.
It’s all a pleasure and thanks for having me. My name is Tebogo Precious Motebejane and I’d normally say I’m just a reserved and bubbly person that’s very passionate about Sport, Education, and Economics. I am originally from Mafefe in Limpopo.
Where does your passion for sport come from?
My passion for sport comes from a very young age and from my family. I hail from a family with a lot of uncles, so you know those weekends whereby they gather altogether, chill and watch sport, particularly football. So, my cousin and I would sit right in front of them and watch the game with them. Eventually the more I watched, the more I got to understand the sport. I would take my time and research more about it and that’s how I came to understand it. At that time, I didn’t think one day I’d want to be involved in it. I played netball in both primary and secondary school. Tried athletics in primary though and realised from there that it wasn’t my strongest point. I most definitely have played street football while growing up with the boys in my hood but to get on the pitch and play a whole 90 minutes? Nope I haven’t.
Please tell us about your journey to becoming a football analyst and blogger.
Analysing wise, it honestly started with me just watching football matches and observing how they play. In most cases, the analysts panel would share the same thoughts and observations as mine afterwards and I knew from there that I can surely do this, it’s a bit funny I know. I also love tactics generally, I find them fascinating and so I enjoy analysing how teams create their playing systems that link their formation to a particular style of play and all that follows afterwards, performance wise.
With blogging, it was just in the middle of the pandemic after finishing my exams. I have been contemplating about starting one as I had thought of creating my own platform where I could share my knowledge and thoughts about sport. I finally downloaded the Wordpress application and created my site known as Precious Sports Expressions.
It was Football Expressions at first, but I realised that at some point I’d want to start blogging about other sporting codes as well, so I changed it. I started by writing match reports and slowly went into match analysis. I also write features about sport content creators. I’ve dedicated my blog to writing and appreciating what they do as well. At this moment it’s doing well, it has been a year now and I’ve been able to surpass 1,100 all-time views which is really huge for me. It is one platform that makes it possible for me to merge analysing and writing.
If you were not in the sport industry, where would one find you?
One would definitely find me in a classroom in front of learners teaching. That’s one field I’m also passionate about and is the field I’m studying towards at the moment. So probably in a few years to come, that’s where one will actually find me if not in the sport scene.
What are some of the lessons you are learning as a woman in sport media?
Especially in analysing, that not only footballers can analyse the game. As a spectator with a push of passion and the willingness to learn, you can make a great football analyst. Research should be your best friend. The analysing part of the sport industry is not that open to women unless you’ve played football at a professional level before. I’m learning to not look down on myself, but to rather keep pushing my content as you’ll never know who’s watching.
What has been the biggest highlight of your career so far?
Taking a step and being featured on radio as a Sports Analyst. Hope Alive Radio gave me a platform to start taking my analyzing from writing to talking about it behind the mic. This has been the highlight of my career so far given that I started this year to fully go into it.
Who are some of the sportswomen you admire and why?
Because I’m more into analyzing, I look up more to analysts like Amanda Dlamini, Simphiwe Dludlu and Gloria Brown. I see myself in them every time I watch them do their analysis. They possess great knowledge of the game and are very passionate about it.
What do you enjoy most about what you do?
Learning something new on every game day and researching about it. It gives me more ways to approach each and every analysis I write.
What is your advice for aspiring women in sport media?
Create your own platform first and do not rely on the big sporting media companies to give you one. There are many concepts one can come up with to start a platform and there’s a lot to create content about. By the time they start recognising you, you are already sorted as you know what’s expected of you. There is definitely space for all of us.
What else do you hope to achieve in your career?
Featuring on more radio stations and of course heading for appearances on TV. Sitting in that SABC/SuperSport studio analyzing the game with the analysts I look up to would be a great achievement for me. Having features as a writer as well on some of the sporting publications in the country is what I hope to achieve as well.
What is your greatest ambition?
My greatest ambition is to work in one of the leagues that made me fall in love with analyzing which is the English Premier League. Writing for well known publications and sharing my insights with a larger audience.
Looking at the year it’s been in women’s sports. What has been your highlight?
It definitely has to be Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies winning a treble. Winning the inaugural CAFWCL was really huge for women’s sport. They really have taught most of us that you can do it if you put your mind, focus and hard work to it.
What are you looking forward to in 2022 looking at women’s sport?
I’m looking forward to more wins, from teams to the personnel behind these teams and in the whole of sports media. Continuous growth and more coverage.
Photo 1 Caption: Football analyst and blogger, Tebogo Motebejane, dreams of following in the footsteps of Amanda Dlamini, Simphiwe Dludlu and Gloria Brown as she hopes to make her mark in the sport industry. Photo: Supplied
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