Bafana Bafana and Banyana Banyana represent the same nation, but not the same level of support. The difference says more about us than it does about football.
Rather than pretending South Africans do not support Banyana Banyana, the stronger argument is whether the support is visible. When Bafana Bafana competed at the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations, social media timelines filled with countdowns, match previews, public viewing invitations and nationwide calls to rally behind the national team. The yellow jerseys became symbols of national unity, and every fixture felt like a national event.
Fast forward to Banyana Banyana competing at the 2026 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations, and the atmosphere is noticeably different. The defending African champions took to the continental stage without the same intensity of public mobilisation. The contrast is not simply about football. It reflected a deeper pattern in South African sport: we celebrate women’s achievements, but we do not consistently promote them with the same energy.
This is not merely an observation. According to The Commission for Gender Equality found that women’s sport in South Africa “has not received the same amount of acclaim, attention and support from the State, the private sector, media houses and ordinary South Africans.” If the institutions responsible for building excitement around national teams are not investing equally in women’s football, it is hardly surprising that public engagement differs. That observation explains why the different levels of excitement surrounding Bafana and Banyana should concern us.
If the media, sporting bodies and sponsors devote more promotional resources to men’s football, then the public will inevitably become more familiar with Bafana’s journey than Banyana’s. The disparity becomes a self-fulfilling cycle: greater visibility leads to greater support, which justifies even greater visibility.
The irony is that Banyana Banyana have produced extraordinary results. They won the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations in 2022 and have become one of the continent’s strongest national teams. Yet the same CGE report concludes that despite these achievements, they “have not received the same recognition and rewards as their male counterparts, Bafana Bafana.” Success alone has not earned them equal treatment.
Some will argue that men’s football naturally attracts larger audiences. But audiences are not born; they are built. Visibility creates interest, and interest creates supporters. A landmark South African study that analysed 2 806 newspaper articles found that 86.3% of sports coverage focused on men’s sport, while only 4.2% focused on women’s sport a ratio of about 20 to 1. The imbalance extended to photographs, where male athletes outnumbered women by roughly 19 to 1.
Perhaps the most important conclusion from that study is not the numbers themselves but what they mean. The researcher argues that under-reporting women’s sport limits the public’s knowledge of female athletes’ achievements, while the continued trivialisation or neglect of women’s sport creates the impression that it is less important or less worthy of attention.
Recognition also extends beyond media coverage. The CGE points out that SAFA awarded Banyana R1.2 million after winning WAFCON, while previously spending R9 million on vehicles for provincial administrators. It also notes that Bafana players received larger bonuses for reaching the AFCON quarterfinals than Banyana received for winning their continental title. These examples reinforce the message that women’s achievements are too often valued less, even when the results surpass those of the men’s team.
South Africans like to describe themselves as passionate supporters of whoever wears the national jersey. That ideal should not depend on whether the badge is worn by Bafana or Banyana. If we want genuine equality in football, we must stop expecting women to earn support only after they win trophies, while assuming the men’s team deserves nationwide campaigns simply because they are men.
Equal support begins long before kick-off with equal storytelling, equal promotion and equal belief that every national team is worthy of the country’s full attention.
FEATURED IMAGE: A graphic of Banyana Banyana standing under the spotlight. Graphic: Sanele Sithole
RELATED STORIES:
- Wits Vuvuzela, SA u20 women’s team reach semis, August 12, 2019
- Wits Vuvuzela, Slice of Life: It is just a game after all, right?, October 6, 2018
- Wits Vuvuzela, Former Banyana captain Nthabeleng Modiko to boost Wits Ladies, April 13, 2017
