Why Banyana star Maponya won’t trade her lieutenant job in navy for pro football contract

While many female footballers and ardent followers of the women’s game in Mzansi have long been calling for a professional league, the status quo of having the semi-professional league is a blessing in disguise for Banyana Banyana defender Antonia Maponya.

It’s a matter of what I want for myself. I think the life I am living now is the life I chose, and I think I am fine with it—   Banyana Banyana defender Antonia Maponya

Maponya, 26, has a full-time job as a lieutenant at SA Navy’s human resources department in Cape Town, where she also plays her football for the University of Western Cape (UCT) in the Hollywoodbets Super League, the top-flight yet semi-pro league of women’s football in South Africa.

Maponya, who is part of the Banyana squad now in Morocco for what has been a botched Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (Wafcon) campaign, has shared why being a footballer in a semi-pro league in Mzansi works out well for her considering her full-time job with the navy.

“It’s a matter of what I want for myself. I think the life I am living now is the life I chose, and I think I am fine with it, so I’d rather keep it this way,” Maponya said in an interview at Banyana’s team hotel in Casablanca on Wednesday.

“Not to say it in a bad way, but I have my job for the next 33 years [before she retires], and if I go play professional football somewhere, there’s going to be a very early age where I am going to stop playing.

“I want a life that’s going to keep challenging me as long as I am still alive. How I have structured my life is that I want a life that has a balance of both; sports and corporate.”

Even so, the Limpopo-born Maponya did not hide that the juggling act was no child’s play.

“I work from 7am to 4pm, and from 4.30pm I am at training, and Friday after work I have to fly to wherever we play and come back Saturday,” Maponya shared.

“I do my recovery on Sunday and on Monday I am back to work… that’s my life. It’s very difficult but it’s a matter of managing it well, as it’s something that I wanted,” she said.

The Banyana ace also reflected on how she got into the navy. “My career in the SA Navy started in 2022. Mind you, that’s the year I made my Banyana debut as well,” Maponya said.

“I applied there because I’ve always wanted to do something in HR because that’s what I studied [at UWC, where she graduated in 2021].

“So luckily I got in and I had to put my football journey on hold a bit when I was undergoing the training for eight months until I resumed football mid-2023.”

Banyana will face old rivals Nigeria for one of CAF’s two spots at the intercontinental playoffs for next year’s World Cup in Casablanca, at the Moulay Rachid Stadium in Casablanca on Thursday (10pm SA time).