Head coach of the University of the Western Cape (UWC), Thinasonke Mbuli has called on the South African Football Association (SAFA) to be more stricter on teams that do not honour matches without valid reasons.
Speaking to CentreCircle.online, the Banyana Banyana assistant coach says forfeiting points only is not enough.
Mbuli was referring to the latest incident where the relegated Durban Ladies failed to arrive for their Hollywoodbets Super League fixture against UWC on Sunday (12 October 2025) in Cape Town.
SAFA awarded the Capetonians three points with a 2-0 victory. UWC won the reverse fixture 1-0 in June.
“Points alone are not enough… we spend so much preparing for a match then when a team fails to honour a league all we get are three points. I think SAFA should change this and order teams to incur the costs of the other team or even half of that so that defaulting teams know there will be a lot at stake if they don’t honour matches,” said an irritated Mbuli.
“For instance, if a team is relegated and you take three points away from them how will that affect them, and how will they stop repeating that in future? More must be done to prevent these embarrassing acts.”
CentreCircle.online has learnt that Durban Ladies were in Gauteng to play in a different event instead of honouring their league fixture in Cape Town.
“It is also very disheartening to learn that Durban Ladies were playing in another tournament in Gauteng when we were waiting for them in Cape Town – that for me is pure disrespect,” added a fuming Mbuli.
The UWC mentor also told SABCsport.com that such behaviour will continue to make sponsors and fans stay from women’s football. This is the third time they suffer such in the last three seasons – previously it was with the relegated Thunderbirds Ladies and then TS Galaxy Queens in 2024.
“It is really disappointing, because we want people to take our league seriously. I mean if we don’t take the league seriously as teams, why should we expect a buy-in from supporters and sponsors. This is the very reason we will struggle to have viewership and more people attending matches. If such things continue to happen – the Hollywoodbets Super League will fail to get sponsorships. We need to do better as clubs and respect the game,’’ said Mbuli.
Durban Ladies are left with four matches to complete the 2025 season and it is still not clear if they will honour the fixtures where they will face Ezemvelo Ladies, Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies, the University of Pretoria and TUT Matsatsantsa Ladies.
The KwaZulu Natal outfit has now suffered 20 losses this campaign, including the UWC defeat – with only one win and five draws in 2025 so far.
The “2-0 win” over Durban Ladies was a welcome relief for UWC who have endured a very difficult season, finding themselves on the bottom half of the log standings, positions they are not accustomed to.
This was their fourth fixture without defeat – two back to back wins and two draws.
After 22 games, the Blues are now ninth on the table with 32 points after eight wins and the same number of draws. They have lost six matches.
With eight rounds of fixtures left, they will be hoping to finish in the top eight – somewhat of a relief after they ended second behind champions Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies in the last two seasons.
UWC next face the struggling and relegation-haunted Royal AM on Saturday in Cape Town.
The Capetonians showed glimpses of brilliance recently when they were won the FNB Women’s Football for the third time in a row – and will be eager to continue with that momentum to the end of the 2025 Hollywoodbets Super League campaign.
By Matlhomola Morake
