SOCCER GRANNIES, the South African women who inspire the world

231pp., illus., paperback, Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham, 2023

ISBN: 9798881806323

In 2006 Rebecca Ntsanwisi started Vakhegula Vakhegula, or the Soccer Grannies, a football club for older women in Limpopo Province. Despite resistance from their communities, the women play together to improve their health, socialise, and briefly escape the poverty and struggles they face on a daily basis. In 2010 Jean Duffy helped raise funds for the team to participate in the Veterans Cup tournament in Massachusetts, USA.

Includes interviews with some of the soccer-playing women.

“A heartwarming story of struggle, joy, and triumph centering on unlikely soccer players - grandmothers of South Africa. We learn not only about how these women overcome obstacles they face within the sport, but also how they negotiate historical and contemporary legacies of apartheid and colonialism. Jean Duffy skillfully writes about the spirit, faith, and spunk of these older athletes and inspires the reader to dream of endless possibilities built through friendships, reciprocity, and communities of care.” Cynthia Fabrizio Pelak, Professor of Sociology, New Mexico State University

“A moving account of the power of sport and women’s friendship, Soccer Grannies shows how a team of senior South African women does much more than score goals: they build community, at home and across the world. This story of international journeys and joyous matches is enriched by its intimate portraits of the lives of these women athletes and community leaders.” Meghan Healy-Clancy, Professor of History, Bridgewater State University

Jean Duffy is a non-fiction writer and soccer player who has published with the Boston Globe, the Concord Monitor, the Packingtown Review, the Somerville Journal, the Stamford Advocate, and WBUR Cognoscenti. Jean worked as an engineer and manager before she retired.