I’ll never forget the sight of an emotional Desiree Ellis, with a lump in her throat and tears in her eyes, as she reminisced about the journey she took to become one of the longest-serving Banyana Banyana captains. It took a lot of sacrifice and it cost her dearly.
Apartheid almost denied her that opportunity when South Africa spent the better part of her youth banned from international football because of it’s racist policies. Ellis was 29 when Fifa lifted the ban, allowing the country to compete in international football in 1992.
Banyana played their first game the following year against Swaziland. Ellis was 30 when she received her first call-up.
“I was told that if I go (to the national team) I might lose my job,” Ellis said. “It didn't even cross my mind that I shouldn't go. I was fired when I returned from Banyana Banyana late after our Kombi broke down. I spent three years after that playing for the national team, and without a job. But I was living my dream. At the end of the day we make a lot of sacrifices and we don't see the results.”
That sacrifice would see Ellis go on to captain the team for eight years and serve as assistant coach at the Olympics, her first global tournament with the side - something she failed to achieve as a player, participating only in continental competitions. Now she is the interim coach.
She will lead Banyana in the Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon with the desire to remove the interim in her title. She hasn't started her tenure on a good note, though. On the field, the side looked good, beating Egypt 3-1 and Zimbabwe 3-0.
It's the decision to drop former Banyana captain Amanda Dlamini that has set tongues wagging. Ellis was vague about the reason for dropping Dlamini when she announced the 21 players she will take to Cameroon on Monday. She only said that Dlamini wasn't there because of conflicting schedules.
What she didn't say was that that conflicting schedule only affected Thursday’s friendly against Zimbabwe. Dlamini would have been available for the tournament. Ellis decided to drop her nonetheless, in a bid to flex her muscle and stamp her authority in the team.
The coach argued that what message would she be sending if she allowed Dlamini to come and go as she pleases in camp. This is despite the overseas-based pair of Jermaine Seoposenwe (US) and Roxanne Barker (Netherlands), also not part of the team that played Zimbabwe but who will be in the tournament.
The decision to drop Dlamini because she chose to go to a job that was arranged a month ago was unfortunate, especially coming from someone who was once in a similar position. Ellis should have known better. Ironically Dlamini was delivering a speech on poor salaries Banyana players earn compared to their male counterparts. It’s because of those poor salaries that Banyana players are forced to have jobs on the side since being in the national team doesn't give them much.
Ellis had an opportunity to move the side from the dictatorship that characterised Vera Pauw’s tenure. This whole situation could have been handled differently with better communication. Dlamini’s management team tried to get the dates for Banyana’s friendlies early so as to try and ensure that they don’t clash with her work commitments. But that didn’t happen and Banyana find themselves without a key member.
If the communication lines were better, this would have been avoided because Ellis knows what Dlamini can offer the team and there was nothing new she would have seen against Egypt and Zimbabwe. Hopefully this is an isolated incident because for this team to move forward, Ellis needs to do a better job than Pauw in managing the players.
The fact that Ellis has gone from Banyana player to captain, assistant coach and now interim coach should ensure that her skills as a manager are better. This tournament is a good opportunity for the side to finally become African champions after failing at the last hurdle four times before. Ellis was a player at twice before. It would be great that a South African technical team delivers the elusive title. It would send a loud statement to the suits at Safa that they shouldn't look beyond our borders for Pauw’s replacement.
Saturday Star