Simphiwe Mafene unpacks plans as newly appointed University of Fort Hare Ladies coach

Mafene comes with great experience having been with Royal Am for three years since 2022 - starting out as the women’s team head coach and subsequently moved to become the first team’s senior physical conditioning coach.

Speaking exclusively to SABC Sport, Mafene says he wants to ensure that the institute's ladies football programmes improves.

“I am also from a football institute programme at the North West University before Royal Am. So joining a university club for me, it is a great opportunity to also make sure that we restore the women’s game to its original place. We want to assemble a good squad that will show quality in the Hollywoodbets Super League,’’ said Mafene.

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Mafene takes over the reins from Sipho Cottage and Sphamandla Mbele who were co-coaches at the Eastern Cape outfit.

He will lead the team for the first time this afternoon when they host the University of Johannesburg ladies at the Davidson Stadium.

He says they have done their analysis on UJ and have a special plan on how to approach the game.

“The team has its own analysis on the University of Johannesburg, when they played against the University of Cape Town. They are more direct and simple and they play on moments with diagonal balls - so our plan is to ensure that we down their supply to eliminate the threat,’’ added Mafene.

The 36-year-old mentor says that despite their successful preseason, they will still look to reinforce the squad for the 2025 campaign.

“Coming into the team, I saw that we needed to reshuffle players based on discipline and other factors that would possibly affect the team performance negatively. So as the new technical team, it is a clear indication that we will need to reinforce the squad for the 2025 campaign,’’ he expressed.

The Baby Wolves managed to retain their league status as newcomers and finished ninth position on the log last season.

Mafene adds that the goal is to secure a spot in the top eight this year.

“All we want this season is progress, to secure a better position on the Log and to see our players get national call ups,’’ concludes the coach.