Banyana star owes it to dad to play in the World Cup

World Cup-bound Banyana Banyana midfielder Wendy Shongwe already had auspicious moments as a runner, racing with none other than renowned two Olympic gold-medalist Caster Semenya at some point.

Shongwe’s brilliance on the track once saw her compete with Semenya in one of the training sessions when the former was a pupil at Tuks Sport High School in Pretoria. Semenya was a Tuks athlete at that time.

In 2017, the Banyana star won bronze with second all-time best (2:13.86) in the girls’ 800m at the SA School Championships in Durban. 

It was rather the recrudescence of Covid-19, coupled with her father’s never-dying push, that would see Shongwe trade her promising athletics career for football.

“I started playing football when I was still very young in primary school,” Shongwe told Sowetan during Banyana’s media open-day at UJ Auckland Park campus on Wednesday.

“When I went to high school, I then started to love athletics until Covid-19 happened. During Covid-19, I gained weight and realised that it’d be difficult for me to return to athletics. So, I decided to play football again after matriculating in 2021. At high school I used to train competitively with Caster as she was a Tuks athlete.”

Shongwe’s father always wanted his daughter to play football and that the 20-year-old from Springs will be representing SA at the Fifa World Cup, to be co-staged by New Zealand and Australia from July 20 to August 20, makes the old man proud.

“Again, it was always a promise to my dad that after matric I will go back to playing football. He (her father) always wanted me to play football rather than running because he believed I was a good player than a good runner. He feels vindicated and happy that I am going to the World Cup. I owe it to make him proud because his desire for me to play football played a huge role in my career.

“I am very happy to be part of the final World Cup squad and I am looking forward to experiencing such a big tournament,” Shongwe added.