Ma-Indies Ladies and Coal City Wizards suffered the drop from the Hollywoodbets Super League two weeks apart.
Saturday, 14 October 2023 and Sunday, 29 October 2023 – the dates that changed the fortunes of both sides, respectively, as their stay in the South African elite women’s football league came to an end.
Limpopo’s Ma-Indies went down with three games to play, while Mpumalanga’s Coal City had two matches remaining.
As we wrap up the 2023 season, CentreCircle.online traces the paths of these two teams…
Ma-Indies Ladies:
Ma-Indies was promoted in 2019 alongside JVW FC, who had been crowned the Sasol League National Champions of that year, but only started playing in the Hollywoodbets Super League in 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
With 14 teams in the competition at the time, the Limpopo side finished in eighth position after 26 games – perhaps the first sign of trouble ahead.
In 2022, they occupied the same position, but showed slight improvement as there were now 16 teams in the campaign, but still the danger signs were there.
And those came to the fore this year when they lost their first seven matches, only to grab the first win of the year in their eighth fixture – a 1-0 victory over East London’s Thunderbirds Ladies.
This was followed by a loss, then a ray of sunshine when they grabbed their second win of the season, beating City Lads Ladies 3-0.
That was to be the last three points of 2023 they collected as it was downhill from there – with only two draws in between (1-1 vs Copperbelt Ladies, 24 September; and 2-2 vs Richmond United, 8 October).
From their last win, they played 20 matches without victory.
Ma-Indies finished 16th on eight points from two wins, two draws and 26 defeats.
They were the least scoring team with 18 goals, and had the second most porous defence (78 goals against).
MA-INDIES LADIES HOLLYWOODBETS SUPER LEAGUE 2023 RECORD:
| Ma-Indies Ladies | P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | PTS |
| 30 | 2 | 2 | 26 | 18 | 78 | -60 | 8 |
MA-INDIES LADIES HOLLYWOODBETS SUPER LEAGUE 2023 RESULTS:
| vs | Royal AM | 0 – 2 | Home | L | |
| vs | Sundowns Ladies | 3 – 1 | Away | L | |
| vs | JVW | 1 – 0 | H | L | |
| vs | Durban Ladies | 0 – 4 | A | L | |
| vs | Coal City Wizards | 3 – 2 | A | L | |
| vs | UWC | 0 – 5 | H | L | |
| vs | UJ Ladies | 5 – 1 | A | L | |
| vs | Thunderbirds Ladies | 1 – 0 | H | W | 1 April 23 |
| vs | Richmond United | 2 – 0 | A | L | |
| vs | City Lads Ladies | 3 – 0 | H | W | 22 April 23 |
| vs | First Touch Ladies | 1 – 2 | H | L | |
| vs | Copperbelt Ladies | 2 – 1 | A | L | |
| vs | TS Galaxy Queens | 0 – 4 | H | L | |
| vs | Tuks Ladies | 7 – 0 | A | L | |
| vs | TUT | 0 – 2 | H | L | |
| vs | Royal AM | 5 – 2 | A | L | |
| vs | Sundowns Ladies | 0 – 1 | H | L | |
| vs | Durban Ladies | 1 – 0 | A | L | |
| vs | Coal City Wizards | 1 – 3 | H | L | |
| vs | JVW | 0 – 3 | H | L | |
| vs | UWC | 1 – 0 | A | L | |
| vs | UJ Ladies | 0 – 1 | H | L | |
| vs | First Touch Ladies | 2 – 1 | A | L | |
| vs | Copperbelt Ladies | 1 – 1 | H | D | 24 Sep 23 |
| vs | Thunderbirds Ladies | 3 – 0 | A | L | |
| vs | Richmond United | 2 – 2 | H | D | 8 Oct 23 |
| vs | City Lads Ladies | 2 – 0 | A | L | |
| vs | TS Galaxy Queens | 4 – 1 | A | L | |
| vs | Tuks Ladies | 0 – 3 | H | L | |
| vs | TUT | 4 – 0 | A | L | |
Coal City Wizards:
Sadly, the demise of Coal City Wizards means that the province of Mpumalanga will only have one representative in 2024 in the Hollywoodbets Super League.
Coal City are the founder members of top flight women’s football league in South Africa – finishing fifth in the inaugural year (2019/2020) with only 14 teams in the competition.
Two more clubs were added the next season (2021) but the wheels seemed to come off for the Mpumalanga outfit who ended in 12th position.
With another pair of teams promoted to make it 16 in the competition, the decline was evident for Coal City, as they managed to finish on the 13th spot last season, a worrying factor which they had hoped to fix in 2023.
But the passing away of their founder, chairman and coach, Mabu Maroaswi at the beginning of this year seemed to change everything.
By the time the season kicked off it was clear they had not recovered and adapted to the changes – losing 9-1 to the University of the Western Cape in their first match.
Their first win was only in the fifth match, followed by four losses, a win and another seven losses.
It was almost evident which way the team was going – they managed two victories along the way but could not shake off the defeats, and their fate was sealed with two games to go, ending on position 15..
Coal City is the only side to concede 20 goals to one team in one season – going down 9-0 and 11-0 to the reigning champions in the first round and the reverse fixture respectively.
The team from the Land of the Rising Sun would however bid farewell to the elite women’s football league in style, defeating City Lads Ladies 4-0 in the final match of the season.
Along with the Northwest’s Golden Ladies, who were relegated in 2022, the two teams remain the only sides to be scored 11 goals in a match without scoring – both lost to Sundowns Ladies in two different seasons.
The Mpumalanga side goes down with 17 points after five wins, two draws and 23 defeats.
They had the leakiest defence with 104 scored past them – managing to net only 27 times.
COAL CITY WIZARDS HOLLYWOODBETS SUPER LEAGUE 2023 RECORD:
| Coal City Wizards | P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | PTS |
| 30 | 5 | 2 | 23 | 32 | 104 | -72 | 17 |
COAL CITY WIZARDS HOLLYWOODBETS SUPER LEAGUE 2023 RESULTS:
| vs | UWC | 1 – 9 | Home | L | |
| vs | UJ Ladies | 5 – 0 | Away | L | |
| vs | Thunderbirds Ladies | 1 – 1 | H | D | 25 Feb 23 |
| vs | Richmond United | 5 – 1 | A | L | |
| vs | Ma-Indies Ladies | 3 – 2 | H | W | 11 March 23 |
| vs | First Touch | 3 – 1 | A | L | |
| vs | Copperbelt Ladies | 0 – 2 | H | L | |
| vs | TS Galaxy Queens | 0 – 6 | H | L | |
| vs | Tuks Ladies | 2 – 1 | A | L | |
| vs | TUT | 2 – 1 | H | W | 22 April 23 |
| vs | Royal AM | 4 – 0 | A | L | |
| vs | Sundowns Ladies | 9 – 0 | H | L | |
| vs | JVW | 2 – 0 | A | L | |
| vs | Durban Ladies | 2 – 4 | H | L | |
| vs | City Lads Ladies | 3 – 1 | A | L | |
| vs | UWC | 1 – 0 | A | L | |
| vs | UJ Ladies | 3 – 5 | H | L | |
| vs | Thunderbirds Ladies | 2 – 0 | A | W | 18 June 23 |
| vs | Richmond United | 1 – 2 | H | L | |
| vs | Ma-Indies Ladies | 3 – 1 | A | W | 1 July 23 |
| vs | First Touch Ladies | 1 – 3 | H | L | |
| vs | Copperbelt Ladies | 2 – 0 | A | L | |
| vs | Royal AM | 2 – 5 | H | L | |
| vs | TS Galaxy Queens | 5 – 1 | A | L | |
| vs | JVW | 0 – 1 | H | L | |
| vs | Sundowns Ladies | 11 – 0 | A | L | |
| vs | Tuks Ladies | 1 – 1 | H | D | 21 Oct 23 |
| vs | TUT | 1 – 0 | A | L | |
| vs | Durban Ladies | 6 – 1 | A | L | |
| vs | City Lads Ladies | 4 – 2 | H | W | 26 Nov 23 |
Ma-Indies and Coal City Wizards will now be campaigning in the lower tier of women’s football in South Africa, the Sasol League, following in the footsteps of Tsunami Queens (Free State) and Golden Ladies (Northwest) who failed to beat the relegation axe last season.
This means Limpopo will only have two teams in the Hollywoodbets Super League – newly-promoted Copperbelt Ladies and First Touch FC, Mpumalanga’s sole representative will be the newly-formed TS Galaxy Queens, while the Free State and the Northwest remain without a team in top flight women’s football.
2024 HOLLYWOODBETS SUPER LEAGUE SEASON:
TEAMS BY PROVINCE:
GAUTENG:
- Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies
- JVW
- University of Johannesburg (UJ Ladies)
- University of Pretoria (Tuks Ladies)
- Tshwane University of Technology (TUT FC)
KWAZULU NATAL:
- Durban Ladies
- Royal AM
- Lindelani Ladies
EASTERN CAPE:
- Fort Hare University
- Thunderbirds Ladies
- City Lads Ladies
LIMPOPO:
- Copperbelt Ladies
- First Touch Academy
NORTHERN CAPE:
- Richmond United
WESTERN CAPE:
- University of the Western Cape (UWC)
MPUMALANGA:
- TS Galaxy Queens
NORTH WEST:
- No team
FREE STATE:
- No team
By Matlhomola Morake
