![\"\"](\"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/worcesterstandard\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/AFP_Grannies-soccer-world-cup-1024x683.jpg\")
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":"
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