SHE has always loved football even as a young girl growing up in the rural village of Ha ’Makhoroana in Berea. Her journey in football has today taken her to one of the highest offices that control the beautiful game in Lesotho.
sports
April 9, 2021
TEBOHO JAFETA
5 min read
Top female football administrator with big dreams, Joalane Tongoane
Joalane Tongoane is the current Lesotho Football Association (LeFA) Women Football Desk Officer, a position she has held since 2019.
She won two Intervarsity gold medals with the National University of Lesotho (NUL)’s Rovers Ladies in 2012 and 2013.
She also won a silver medal with Rovers Ladies at the 2011 Intervarsity Games in Botswana.
She is the FIFA Level I coaching certificate holder, after she obtained the qualification in 2015.
Tongoane attended the Confederation of African Football (CAF) D License coaching course in Lesotho under the instruction of Mrs Bootes from South Africa.
In 2018, she attended the FIFA Women football coaching course in Maseru facilitated by FIFA’s Jacqui Shipanga from Namibia.
Tongoane also holds a CAF Women Football administration level I acquired in Cairo, Egypt in 2019 and a CAF Women Football administration level II qualification obtained in April.
Joalane Tongoane is a daughter of ’Mamoeketsi and the late Tšeliso Tongoane of Ha ’Makhoroana, Berea.
Born on October 22, 1989, she is the sixth child in a family of eight children - four boys and four girls.
As a young girl from the age of seven, Tongoane used to play soccer with boys in her neighbourhood. She played netball and was a runner because football had not yet been introduced at Bitso-Lebe Primary School.
She obtained her Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) qualification in 2003.
Her love for football developed rapidly through her high school days at ’Malithuso High School and she participated in most sports activities, especially girls’ football.
She grew as a player and was nominated for the Vision 2020 team, playing for the Maseru District in 2006 and 2007.
She represented her school ’Malithuso but was invited to play for Dahon High School in the schools’ regional Lesotho Institutions Sports Association (LISA) competition.
She completed her Cambridge Overseas School Certificate (COSC) in 2009.
In 2010, she joined Rovers Ladies upon her arrival at the National University of Lesotho (NUL) and was the only first year student in the team.
The team was coached by the current LCS FC head coach Shalane Lehohla who was at the time also a student at the institution.
She captained the team in 2012, during her second year of study.
In 2014, she graduated with a BA in Sociology and Development Studies.
Former women’s national team player ’Makopo Kepa (KB) was a great inspiration to her because she also played football and studied at NUL simultaneously.
When she graduated from NUL, she worked at Shoprite Supermarket until she resigned due to ill-health.
Playing for NUL’s Rovers Ladies made her realize that when time is managed well, there is a lot that can be achieved.
“I managed to live my passion, which was playing football while also studying.
“In 2016, I got very ill to an extent that I was admitted in hospital and diagnosed with meningitis. The doctor told me that I would no longer bear the pressure of high-intensity training and that is when I decided to call it a day as a player,” she recalls.
The former defender then moved to administration and joined the management of Rovers Ladies before she was elected as the Vice-Secretary of the Women National Committee.
The new role helped her to grow as an administrator and she met experienced football administrators like Chris Bullock, who was the then Secretary.
She says Bullock took her under his wing as her mentor when he saw the potential she has as a young administrator.
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“We worked well together, and I really enjoyed my time serving women football and the beautiful game. The following year, I was elected to be a member in the Women Super League Committee, where I would once again team-up with Bullock, who was the Chairperson of that committee while I was the Vice Chairperson,” she says.
She considers Tjamela Tjamela whom she succeeded as the Women Desk Officer at the Lesotho Football Association as her motivator in her early days in Women football administration.
“I have discovered that we have a lot of talented young girls throughout the country. However, the biggest challenge especially in the remote areas, is that girls are still being restricted from playing football and displaying their God given talents.
“Due to our culture, a lot of girls are still being denied the opportunity to play football as it is still being considered as a male sport. That hampers their development because they do not get the same support as boys especially those that play football when it comes to things like buying them soccer boots. I believe we also must do a lot of training for female coaches and those working in women football. There is a lot they need to learn about women football,” she says.
She believes that there is a need for a country-wide awareness to change the culture that playing football is for only males.
“Parents should understand the need to support and encourage girls to also play football. Such campaigns have worked wonders for grassroots football and I am confident they can do the same for women football,” she adds.
Her best moment as a player was in 2011 at the Intervarsity Games in Botswana when she scored a header where NUL lost 3-2 against the University of Botswana in the finals.
Her worst moment was in 2008 when she missed a penalty during the Lesotho Institutions Sports Association (LISA) Zonal Games.
Her two favourite players are Kepa and Boitumelo Rabale. Metro/LeFA
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