{"id":69603,"date":"2025-04-06T13:45:36","date_gmt":"2025-04-06T11:45:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/udexpress\/selfies-goals-and-cheers-at-south-africas-grannies-world-cup\/"},"modified":"2025-04-07T09:02:00","modified_gmt":"2025-04-07T07:02:00","slug":"selfies-goals-and-cheers-at-south-africas-grannies-world-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/udexpress\/selfies-goals-and-cheers-at-south-africas-grannies-world-cup\/","title":{"rendered":"Selfies, goals and cheers at South Africa\u2019s grannies World Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Mbele Nonhlanhla laced up her silver cleats as her coach shouted encouragement to creaky knees, stiff backs and laboured breathing in a dressing room in South Africa’s far north.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At 63, wearing jersey number 10 and sporting brown-dyed hair, the grandmother of seven was far from your typical footballer when she stepped onto the field for her first international tournament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I feel like a superstar,” Nonhlanhla grinned, revealing a missing tooth. “They call me the goal machine.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her team, Vuka Soweto, hails from the renowned township of Soweto outside Johannesburg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It had joined more than a dozen others from across Africa and beyond to compete this week at the Grannies International Football Tournament in the northern province of Limpopo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The four-day “Grannies World Cup” was held in a stadium with sweeping mountain views.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 30-minute games were played in two halves at a slow but purposeful pace, between teams from as far as the United States, France and Togo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It is all about active ageing. Whether we win, lose or what, it is all about coming here and staying fit,” said 62-year-old South African Devika Ramesar, a mother of two and grandmother of five.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Until this week, the Liverpool fan had never stepped onto a football pitch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kenyan striker Edna Cheruiyot only had two months to learn the “long list” of football rules before Friday, when she scored her only goal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She took selfies to remember her first ever trip abroad and send to her grandchildren.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
South African Vuka Soweto team players interact with a French team member after their quarter final match during the Grannies International Football Tournament 2025 at Nkowankowa stadium in Tzaneen on April 4, 2025. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The old neglected<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

“I feel nimble. This is the lightest I have been since my first child in 1987,” Cheruiyot said, adjusting the blue headwrap covering her greying hair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At 52, she is a youngster within her team, whose oldest player — Elizabeth Talaa — is 87.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The idea for the tournament arose in 2007 as a way to improve the health of local women, said founder Rebecca Ntsanwisi, 57, who is fondly called Mama Beka.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It came out of her sense of personal challenge following a cancer diagnosis that once bound her to a wheelchair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The older women need to come together and enjoy. We are neglected,” she told AFP outside the home where she lives with her ageing parents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She hopes to host the next tournament in Kenya in 2027.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In South Africa alone, almost 40 percent of  children live in households headed by their grandparents, according to government statistics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That is mainly due to poverty, cultural traditions and urban migration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But grandmothers should not be saddled with the responsibility of raising their grandchildren, Ntsanwisi said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“This is our time to enjoy and relax,” she said. “I will die knowing that I did something.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chris Matson, 67, took the advice to heart and travelled from the United States to “enjoy every second of the tournament”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I did not play when I was little so to do it now is wonderful,” said the bubbly goalkeeper for the American New England Breakers team and winner of the golden glove.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I have something precious to take home,” she told AFP, craddling her first ever trophy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rolling back time<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The team doctors, however, earned their keep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The aches and pains of the elderly players needed constant checking, South African team medic Diana Mawila said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some members of her Vakhegula Vakhegula team had to be monitored for high blood pressure before every game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vakhegula Vakhegula means “grandmothers grandmothers” in the local Tsonga language and is a nod to the national men’s team, Bafana Bafana or “boys boys”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the team disagreed with Mawila’s assessment and burst into heartfelt laughter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We are fit!,” captain Thelma Ngobeni said, balancing on her head a packet of maize flour that players received after the games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It is not about winning or losing. All that matters is that we showed up, had fun and did our best,” she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nonhlanhla’s goal was more ambitious. A dream of making it big in football was within reach, she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It’s never too late to achieve your childhood dreams. I don’t see anything stopping me,” she added, walking out of the brick-walled tunnel to face France.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a scene mirroring professional football, the vuvuzela-blowing crowd erupted in applause as teams entered the stadium hand in hand with young mascots and national anthems played.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I’m halfway there, right?” Nonhlanhla smiled.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

63-year-old Nonhlanhla competes in the Grannies International Football Tournament, highlighting active aging, community joy, and the importance of fitness among elderly women in South 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goals and cheers at South Africa\u2019s grannies World Cup | UD Express (Uitenhage)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Witness the vibrant spirit of the Grannies International Football Tournament in South Africa, where age meets enthusiasm on the field.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/selfies-goals-and-cheers-at-south-africas-grannies-world-cup\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Selfies, goals and cheers at South Africa\u2019s grannies World Cup\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Witness the vibrant spirit of the Grannies International Football Tournament in South Africa, where age meets enthusiasm on the field.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" 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