Banyana Banyana defender Antonia Maponya chooses navy career over full-time football

Antonia Maponya says she would not exchange her career as a lieutenant in the South African Navy for a full-time professional football contract, despite the demands of combining elite sport with a military job.

The 26-year-old defender works in the South African Navy’s human resources department in Cape Town and plays for the University of the Western Cape (UWC) in the Hollywoodbets Super League, South Africa’s top-flight women’s competition, which remains semi-professional.

Maponya is currently with Banyana Banyana in Morocco, where the team are preparing to face long-standing rivals Nigeria in a decisive Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (Wafcon) fixture. The match will determine one of CAF’s two places in the intercontinental play-offs for next year’s World Cup.

Speaking at Banyana Banyana’s team hotel in Casablanca on Wednesday, Maponya explained why the semi-professional structure suits the balance she wants between football and her long-term career.

“It’s a matter of what I want for myself. I think the life I am living now is the life I chose, and I think I am fine with it, so I’d rather keep it this way,” Maponya said in an interview at Banyana’s team hotel in Casablanca on Wednesday.

“Not to say it in a bad way, but I have my job for the next 33 years [before she retires], and if I go play professional football somewhere, there’s going to be a very early age where I am going to stop playing.

“I want a life that’s going to keep challenging me as long as I am still alive. How I have structured my life is that I want a life that has a balance of both; sports and corporate.”

While South Africa’s female footballers and supporters have repeatedly called for the creation of a professional league, Maponya believes remaining in the semi-professional game enables her to continue playing while building a career in human resources.

The arrangement is demanding, however. The Limpopo-born player works a full day before heading to training and then travels for matches at the weekend.

“I work from 7am to 4pm, and from 4.30pm I am at training, and Friday after work I have to fly to wherever we play and come back Saturday,” Maponya shared.

“I do my recovery on Sunday and on Monday I am back to work… that’s my life. It’s very difficult but it’s a matter of managing it well, as it’s something that I wanted,” she said.

Maponya joined the South African Navy in 2022, the same year she made her Banyana Banyana debut. She had studied human resources at the University of the Western Cape, graduating in 2021, and applied to the navy because she wanted to work in that field.

“My career in the SA Navy started in 2022. Mind you, that’s the year I made my Banyana debut as well,” Maponya said.

“I applied there because I’ve always wanted to do something in HR because that’s what I studied [at UWC, where she graduated in 2021].

“So luckily I got in and I had to put my football journey on hold a bit when I was undergoing the training for eight months until I resumed football mid-2023.”

Banyana Banyana will play Nigeria at Casablanca’s Moulay Rachid Stadium on Thursday at 22:00 South Africa time. The winner will continue the route towards next year’s World Cup through the intercontinental play-offs.

Ndebele is in Morocco courtesy of Banyana’s sponsor, Sasol.

Sowetan