From the news desk

Shamila Sulayman, WP Rugby’s leading woman


By Thakira Desai

As we celebrate Women’s Month, Cape Town local, Shamila Sulayman, has done it for women around the country, by becoming the first woman to serve on the Executive Committee of the Western Province Rugby Football Union – an organization that governs a game that is largely dominated by men.

Officially elected on May 15, 2017, Sulayman’s journey in the field of sport was not as a result of mere luck, but rather her unique ability to step out of her comfort zone.

“My first official entry into any sort of rugby was way back in 2001. Many people had over the years said to me, ‘ Shamila you know so much about the game and about the players, you should really be involved in some sort of capacity’.”

After garnering the courage, she decided to contact the editor of a national rugby magazine and requested him to consider her to write for the magazine.

“You have no idea who I am, but I have two passions, one is writing and another is the rugby and I’d like to marry the two. Would you allow me to write an article for your magazine?” she recalls telling the editor, confidently taking a leap of faith.

By the end of her meeting with the editor, she was commissioned to publish an article for a social hero’s addition, which she timeously submitted.

“The end of the story is that I had three articles published in that specific hero’s addition and that was my little dabble in freelance journalism [and] a toe-in in terms of [my] involvement in rugby.”

Sulayman’s story reflects the colourful culture of sport in the Cape Flats

The Walmer Estate native attests her love of sport to her childhood, in which she enjoyed endless hours playing at the local park with her three brothers and two male cousins.

But, despite her accompanying them on their many adventures in the neighbourhood, she quickly realised that her position as a female placed her at a disadvantage, her male counterparts assuming she was none-the-wiser in the world of rugby.

“There was one topic that almost seemed to sort of shut me out when they spoke about it; they wouldn’t allow me to participate in any conversations that they had about rugby.”

While exercising professionalism within her new position, once Sulayman hits the stand, her local flair and rugby spirit is hard to miss.

Given perceptions about females and the sport of rugby in her childhood years, Sulayman says she was increasingly intrigued to learn more about the game.

But sport was not foreign to Sulayman; her parents played a key role in her love for the culture of both spectating and understanding the complexities of various sport codes.

“My parents were also sports persons; my mother was quite a swimmer in her day and my father was involved in martial arts. So, there is a family background of sporting activities.”

Herself a budding athlete in her formative years, Sulayman participated in Champ of Champ Athletics at school, competing in the 100 and 200 meters sprints.

“My [eldest] brother took it to another level; he played sports under SACOS [the South African Council on Sport] during Apartheid – we certainly supported SACOS sports and boycotted any Apartheid sports. [My brother] went on to represent our Western Province and South African schools under the SACOS banner,” she explained.

Having completed her dissertation on transformation in South African rugby, her research provided her with unique insight into the culture of the sport within the sociopolitical climate of the country.

Read Shamila Sulayman’s thesis, Transformation Policy for South African Rugby: Comparative Perceptions

Being a student who was raised under Apartheid South Africa, she says the political climate inspired her research.

“I was quite involved in student politics and so I had always been conscious of South Africa’s situation and South Africa’s struggles, particularly against the institution of Apartheid. Rugby being a microcosm of South African society, I decided to tackle the issue of transformation.”

Sulayman’s research paved the road for her journey in the sport of rugby. Her talents spotted by Thelo Wakefield, who at the time was an executive member of Western Province Rugby and who is currently the president, invited her join the body’s Transformation Committee, on which she served 10 years, since 2007.

Finally in 2017, Sulayman scored

Given her extensive knowledge on the sport, some three years ago she became actively involved in the administration of Mitchells Plain based club, Altius Collegians Rugby Football Club.

“This was the club that has its roots in District Six, the club is just over 40-years-old and this was the club that my cousins, uncles, and brothers played rugby for.”

Her involvement in the club provided her with an opportunity to serve on the highest decision making body in local rugby, the General Council of the Western Province Rugby Football Union.

While the General Council consists of 95 delegates representing each club, only five are female.

“I served on the General Council for about three years before this position came up on the executive committee of Western Province Rugby and it was a position that had to be filled from the General Council.

“What normally happens, is that clubs would nominate persons to serve and then an election process would take place. I was nominated and this was in itself quite an accomplishment, because a woman has never been elected to the Western Province Executive Committee in its entire history,” Sulayman asserts.

Though she was up against one male, she says her nomination and subsequent election to the executive body was met with excitement by both her male and female colleagues, as well as her peers in the fraternity of Rugby.

“They thought of it as just this ‘boy’s thing’ and because I didn’t play rugby, I wasn’t allowed to participate in their discussions about rugby.” – Sulayman reflects on her experience growing up in the male dominated fraternity of Rugby.

While her journey to reach success in the field remains a personal feat, Sulayman says her appointment as the first woman to serve on the executive committee is a victory for all South African women.

“We like to think of Western Province Rugby history from unification, which took place in 1992, but of course there was a history before that.

“In total, the history of Western Province Rugby spans over 125 years and it has never had a women serve on its executive committee….For me, it was a glass ceiling that was certainly broken, it was a personal journey for me, but it was also an accomplishment needed to be celebrated for all women – women have certainly applied their skills and athleticism to sport codes, it was really one up for women!”

VOC 91.3fm


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