We are always urged to treat our own children equally, thus ensuring that there is no parental favouritism. This is done to ensure that children don’t grow up thinking they are useless compared to their siblings. It also does away with the possibility of sibling rivalry arising from the situation.

On this note, I would like to reflect on Banyana Banyana’s Women Africa Cup of Nations triumph, which saw them crowned the champions of Africa. We are proud of the girls and their milestone achievement. Their victory means a lot to us as a nation and to them as women.

Before winning this year’s trophy, Banyana had been runners-up five times. This shows that through determination, people can turn their misfortune around. The girls proved that success is failure turned inside out.

Let me point out that we can congratulate Banyana without ridiculing Bafana Bafana.

Yes, the male national team is going through some difficult phase but they need our support. No one can agree to don the national team jersey and decides to produce poor performance on purpose. There is no need to compare the two teams because instead of cursing Bafana, we need to give them the same support that was accorded to Banyana.

At some point they were a great team that was crowned champions of Africa, but things have since taken a nose dive. By mentioning Bafana every time we congratulate Banyana, we are unconsciously stealing the girls’ limelight. Let the focus be on the girl child and not the boy child at the moment. The girls did well, but that shouldn’t make us despise the boys.

Let Banyana victory propel Bafana to also do well. Let’s use this triumph to motivate the boys to also reach for the stars. At the same time, let SA Football Association start treating both teams the same way when it comes to funding.

Banyana have proven that women football needs to be given attention. The time is now.

Malphia Honwane, Gottenburg, Mpumalanga