Banyana Banyana captain Refiloe Jane has ambitions as a player in the game as she looks to add to her storied career, writes Nick Said.
Refiloe Jane captaining South Africa at the 2023 Women’s World Cup was the pinnacle of a career that has endured through an incredible footballing journey.
Jane was initially spotted at a local talent competition as a fresh-faced 16-year-old in 2009.
The midfielder was singled out at the Gauteng Future Champions Talent Identification Programme and set on the road to stardom.
Jane was the judges’ pick while still a Grade 11 pupil at Emshukantambo Secondary School in Pimville, Soweto.
She later forged a professional career in Australia and most notably Italy and is now the glue that holds the Banyana side together.
She believes her success has come from learning fast and the experience she gained while training with top English ladies sides Manchester City and Everton, which was part of her prize for winning the competition.
“Winning the Gauteng Future Champions really kick-started my career and gave me so much confidence to believe that I can play for a top local side and even internationally,” she told SoccerClub.
“The time I spent with Manchester City and Everton also opened my eyes as to what is required to be a professional player and I made sure that I put into practice what I learned there.
“When my development started, I was playing a long time with boys until the age of 14. When I was there training with those teams (in England), I saw there is more to football than what I was experiencing at home.
“It changed my life when I got there. I came back and said I would take my football seriously and invest a lot in it. I am grateful to all those people who have helped me become a better player.”
Jane soon got a contract at home with an emerging Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies side, who were not yet the force they are today, but an ambitious club desperate to change the narrative around women’s football.
They found a willing player in Jane desperate for success, and she found a club to give her that platform.
“After joining Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies in late 2010 I put my head down and said to myself that I am going to give everything I have to try and make it into the Banyana Banyana squad. Thankfully that hard work has paid off.”
She was included in Banyana’s squad for the 2012 Olympic Games, and repeated that feat in 2016 when she travelled to Brazil with the team for the Rio de Janeiro games.
She has been central to all of South Africa’s success in recent years which includes qualifying for two Olympic Games and World Cups, and winning the 2022 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations.
Other players have come and gone, but through it all, Jane has been a consistent player the team relies on to bring balance to the midfield.
She now also has the added weight of the captaincy after regular skipper Janine van Wyk retired, taking the experience of an African record 185 international caps with her.
Jane joined Sundowns, and later played for Vaal University of Technology (VUT) and then the Tshwane University of Technology (TUT).
She got her big break in professional football when she was signed to a short-term contract with Australia side Canberra United, heading Down Under with compatriot Rhoda Mulaudzi.
But after impressing at the World Cup in France in 2019, bigger things were on the horizon and she was signed by top Italian club AC Milan.
Van Wyk spent three seasons there before moving to fellow Serie A team Sassuolo, where she featured in 29 games over two seasons, her second campaign cut short by a serious long-term injury sustained at the 2023 World Cup, scoring three goals.
She has since left Sassuolo and at the time of our interview was looking forward to a fresh challenge, and later perhaps taking up the coaching reins.
“The team (Banyana Banyana) has improved very well, we have quite a number of players who have gone overseas and are still overseas, I think the (2019) World Cup played a huge role in the growth of women’s football in our country.
“I do have ambitions of giving back to the game in the future, all that experience I have gained overseas, I want to come back home one day and plough back.
The game has done so much for me and given me so much.
“I want to teach, to coach, to give back in any way to the youngsters who see themselves playing the game. I am looking forward to doing that after my playing days.”
