Ex-Proteas skipper applauds SA’s narrowing gender pay-gap

This was one of the dominant topics during Thursday’s G-Sport Awards nominees' announcement virtual press conference after the discrepancies in match bonuses and allowances between Bafana Bafana and Banyana Banyana made headlines a year ago.

However, the success at the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations brought about drastic change as both teams are now on equal pay, and Mdodana, who captained the Proteas when there were virtually no financial incentives for players, is happy that today’s players are getting professional contracts.

"Definitely a massive improvement from a netball perspective. Obviously going back to say that when we announce the player, we play for the love of the game, but it's good to see that our players are getting contracted," said Mdodana.

"Netball players can now put food on the table, getting endorsements and sponsorships – things that we knew nothing about way back then.

"Obviously, there's still a long way to go because we want to compete against professional countries and teams, and this is what these guys do on a daily basis – they get paid to play netball.

"So, we do have a long way to go, but we are impressed with the growth and improvement."

With all eyes set to be on the Netball World Cup in Cape Town from 28 July to 6 August this year, the Proteas’ competitiveness will also be a major talking point. 

Mdodana believes the issue of funding and sponsorship has played a critical part in ensuring their game made the necessary strides forward.

"And you see also what it's done for our standard and quality of players... If you think about it, we've got about six players currently playing overseas – in Australia, England and New Zealand," she added.

"They play against the best players in the world while getting paid by professional franchises there, so they bring all their experience back into the country to strengthen the Spar Proteas as well.

"So, many doors have opened, a massive improvement from our side, but we do know there's a lot more still to come. We do need to have a professional league in South Africa and we do need to know netball as a professional sporting code for us to be competitive."