Establish Pro Women’s League now – Desiree Ellis

Ellis was speaking to the media during her arrival together with members of her support staff from the FIFA Women’s World Cup at the OR Tambo International Airport last night.

Following a historic exit in the knockout phase of the World Cup, there have been renewed calls about taking the local game to the next level and Ellis says this now needs to be turned into reality.

"I think it's very important, it has shown that when you play against teams that are fully professional, they have it in their legs of playing in that level week in, year in. We don't have that and it was evident," Ellis said.

"So, it's important for us to take that step up by getting a fully-fledged professional league. We spoke about this I think back in 2017. We spoke about it after the world cup but it's important that it happens right now. 

This is where we edge cooperate South Africa to come on board because without them, we are not able to do it. This team has shown that if they get that support structure, the sky is limit because nothing is impossible with this team."

Ellis also tackled the difficult question of why some of the senior Banyana players snubbed the local media when they returned from Australia earlier this weekend.  Whilst maintaining the importance of the media coverage, Ellis says she doesn’t know why interviews were not done.

"I don't know the reasons why and I cannot answer because I don't know the reasons why interviews were not done. The media plays an important role of course in profiling, plays an important role in coverage but I don't know the reason why they were not done. So, I can't give you an answer on that."