Armed with a dream, a vision and plenty of hope, Janine van Wyk teamed up with Duncan Lauren and started a women’s only football club in 2012 – calling it JVW after Van Wyk’s initials.
As they say, the rest is history!
The former Banyana Banyana defender and captain has now come full circle – this after she was announced as one of the assistant coaches at the club to beef up the technical team of the Hollywoodbets Super League outfit.
Also sitting on the bench will be ex-JVW player Unathi Mabena who was the only assistant last season – Mitch Stevens remains the Head Coach. The latter was instrumental in helping the Bedfordview-based side to a third place finish in the 2023 league campaign, their best ever, after occupying the fourth spot two seasons in a row (2021 and 2022) since their promotion into the South African elite women’s football league in 2019.
Van Wyk comes with loads of experience after obtaining her CAF B and UEFA B coaching licences. She is also well-travelled, having been on the books of several teams abroad, including Houston Dash (USA), Fortuna Hjorring (Denmark), Glasgow City (Scotland) and more recently Ergotelis WFC (Greece) before returning home to hang up her boots.
She started her career with Springs Home Sweepers, and also made appearances for Scaw Metals FC, Moroka Swallows as well as Palace Super Falcons where she was part of the Sasol League-winning squad.
Van Wyk is now back to impart all the experience and knowledge she has acquired over the years to the next generations of stars.
It should not be difficult after an 18-year long career with the Sasol-sponsored Banyana Banyana, where she made the most appearances.
With 185 matches to her name, she also holds the record for the most-capped player on the continent – male or female – a feat she achieved just recently when she featured in her last match in a national team jersey against Burkina Faso in a 2024 Paris Olympic Games qualifier in December. She broke an 11-year old record previously held by Ahmed Hassan of Egypt.
Van Wyk is also one of the most successful Banyana Banyana players.
She played in two Olympic Games – London 2012 and Rio 2016 – and became the first player to ever captain the women’s national team at a FIFA Women’s World Cup in their maiden tournament in France in 2019. The defender missed out on the 2023 edition in Australia and New Zealand through injury, but before that, Van Wyk was able to help South Africa to their first continental title, the TotalEnergies CAF Women’s Africa Cup of Nations, after years of trying.
In her illustrious career, among others, van Wyk has faced the likes of the USA, the Netherlands, China, Germany, Australia, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, New Zealand, Nigeria, Zambia, Côte d’Ivoire, Chile, Kenya, Sweden, Spain and Brazil.
Mabena is also a force to be reckoned with and has been transformed from a player to a member of the coaching staff. As a player, she helped the Blue Diamonds gain promotion into the Hollywoodbets Super League in 2019.
She has amassed wealth of experience in the coaching department and was instrumental in their third place finish under the guidance of Coach Stevens.
Mabena received her first country call-up last year when she joined the U17 Women’s National team in Morocco for two friendly matches in preparation for the upcoming FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup qualifiers against Ethiopia – she was the assistant to Head Coach Simphiwe Dludlu.
The former Blue Diamonds player is currently in camp with the same squad as a video analyst for the two World Cup qualifying matches to be played next month.
JVW has already resumed pre-season training to get ready for the 2024 Hollywoodbets Super League and will be hoping for more success after Kaylin Swart was named the 2023 Goalkeeper of the Year. Some of their players are in the current South African U17 Women’s National Team.
By Matlhomola Morake
