She’s a long-standing icon of African women’s football but even so, South Africa coach Desiree Ellis says her journey to a second Women’s World Cup is beyond her wildest imagination.
Thirty years after playing in her country’s first women’s international, Ellis is now guiding the current generation from the touchline, just as she did four years ago at the World Cup in France.
She says a lot has changed in those three decades.
“It was tears on 30 May, which was 30 years. Some of us were reminiscing about the early days,” Ellis told BBC Sport Africa before heading to this year’s tournament in Australia and New Zealand with her ‘Banyana Banyana’ squad, a nickname which means ‘girls’.
“Back in the day, the national team 90% was unemployed. Three of us had jobs and two of us, including myself, lost our jobs playing for the national team.
“Now, 99% have degrees, some are playing abroad. It’s changed completely for the better.”
There were also tears following South Africa’s World Cup opener against Sweden in Wellington on Sunday.
Despite taking an early lead, Banyana were beaten 2-1 after a 90th-minute winner for their opponents, who sit third in organiser Fifa’s world rankings.
“To concede at the end was a bit cruel, but that’s football,” said Ellis afterwards.
“We’re proud of the way we played.”
The result puts extra pressure on Friday’s second Group G fixture against Argentina in Dunedin.
https://emp.bbc.com/emp/SMPj/2.50.2/iframe.htmlDesiree Ellis played in South Africa’s first ever women’s international match 30 years ago
Africa’s sole female coach
Sixty-year-old Ellis is undoubtedly a trailblazer for women’s football.
She has been in her current role since 2016, initially taking the reins as an interim coach following the departure of Vera Pauw, who is now leading Ireland at the World Cup, after a disappointing showing at the Rio Olympics.
After being given the job full-time in 2018, Ellis helped South Africa qualify for their maiden World Cup – but she was not sure she would last this long, particularly given a run of 13 consecutive games without a win between December 2018 and July 2019.
“I thought I was going to be fired,” Ellis recalls, “when we didn’t qualify for the [2020] Olympics and lost to Botswana.
“But God had other plans for me.”
Of the 32 coaches at this newly expanded World Cup, Ellis is one of 12 women – and the only female head coach in charge of one of Africa’s four representatives.
“[I’m] really excited that there’s more female coaches, not just myself. That is opportunities given by the federations,” says Ellis.
“Cosafa (Southern Africa Football Association) have a mandate where there have got to be female coaches and a certain amount of female representatives on the bench. And they’re really setting the trend for that.
“Maybe this needs to go on the continent [Africa]. It’s about being given the opportunity but even more getting the support.”
Football in apartheid South Africa
As a player, Ellis’ career started as a midfielder in Cape Town in the 1970s – a time when women in the country were not encouraged to take up sport.
“I was told that I wanted to be a boy because I wanted to play football,” Ellis remembers.
“I had the support of my late father and the rest of my family and that really helped.
“Sometimes my uncle would go to a game and I’d go with him and have my boots in a bag in case I got to play.”
Those early years of Ellis’ career were also a difficult time politically for South Africa which was then operating under apartheid rule – a system that enforced a racial hierarchy privileging white people.
Despite the difficulties it caused, her passion for the game never wavered.
“At times, when we travelled with provincial teams, they would allow us to go into a caravan park.
“When they saw the group of players coming in, they would all of a sudden change their minds and say, ‘sorry, the place is full’. All we wanted to do was play.”
Changing perceptions
South African women’s football has come a long way since those days.
“What we do and what we’ve achieved… We’ve changed a lot of mindsets and perceptions,” says Ellis.
The country’s debut World Cup appearance in 2019 might not have gone to plan – with Banyana losing all three group games and scoring just one goal – but change has continued apace since then, with a first professional women’s league launched in the same year.
Such developments helped. South Africa lift a first continental title last year, beating hosts Morocco 2-1 to finally win the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (Wafcon), having lost four previous finals.
“There’s a lot more girls wanting to play football now. These players, they cannot walk in the street without having an autograph because of what they’ve achieved with Wafcon,” Ellis said.
As African champions, Banyana have set a target of reaching the second round in Australia and New Zealand.
At 54th in the world, they are the lowest-ranked team in Group G – and Friday’s opponents Argentina sit 26 places above them.
Neither side has ever won a game at a World Cup, meaning the fixture is likely to be crucial to any hopes of reaching the last 16.
“Getting positive results and getting out of the group stage would be huge,” says Ellis, remaining as level-headed as ever.
“Nothing is impossible but you also have to be realistic.”
Thirty years on from her role in the birth of women’s international football in South Africa, Desiree Ellis is on the verge of yet another historic achievement.