Salt River’s Pride.
This is how residents and former soccer play mates describe Banyana Banyana head coach Desiree Ellis.
Ellis, three time Confederation of African Football (CAF) Women’s Coach of the Year title holder, is the talk of the town as she managed to lead the squad which saw them winning the 2022 Women’s African Cup of Nations (Wafcon) on Saturday 24 July.
Banyana scored a 2-1 final victory against hosts Morocco in Rabat.
Ellis was born and bred in Salt River and started her soccer career in Greef Street where she played the game with boys in the street.
She attended Dryden Street Primary School, where her love for soccer further developed.
Stanton Smith, Principal at Dryden Street Primary School, says Ellis is an inspiration to the youth.
“She attended then Salt River Primary which is now named Dryden Street Primary, and this is where her love for soccer started. It is a remarkable achievement, and she has inspired the youth over and over again.”
Smith says he is proud of Ellis’ achievements.
“We as the Dryden family are extremely proud of her and the team. We have been backing her and will continue to support her and her team. The school has celebrated her achievements all over our social media platforms.”
Smith says they would be honoured to welcome the alumna back.
“We would be thrilled to have her at school (with the team) to celebrate her success with our learners. No official arrangements have been made as we understand it’s not always easy getting the team together in one place, but it would be an awesome experience for the kids.”
Shuaib Davids (58) says he has fond childhood memories of playing soccer with Ellis.
“I used to live in Cecil Road, and she lived in Greef Street. So, in the afternoon after school, we would all meet at Shelley Street Park and use makeshift soccer poles and Desiree would join us playing soccer with the boys.”
He explains that as teammates they gave her the nickname “Dessi”.
“She was my soccer buddy back then. I have been following her journey and I am proud of all her achievements.”
The winning team arrived back in the country to a jam-packed OR Tambo International Airport on Tuesday 26 July.
Excited fans gave the team a heroes’ welcome and waited since the early hours of the morning for the squad to arrive.
Speaking to Sport24 Ellis says she is overwhelmed by the support from everyone.
“I was trying not to cry because it is emotional to see the fantastic support and the love they have for this team. We always want to do it for the fans because they’re an important component and Banyana is a much-loved team. The one thing we didn’t want to do was to disappoint the fans. We thank them for the support, and we feel the love.”
