Having spent the last eight years honouring sporting heroes from across the city, the PE Sports Legends Trust hosted the inaugural Unsung Heroines of Sport high tea earlier this month.
The event, which was held at the Boardwalk Hotel last Saturday, saw 10 women being honoured for the roles, both of a sporting and philanthropic nature, they played in their various communities.
Speaking to Weekend Post, PESLT trustee Graeme Sauls said the event captured the imaginations of all those in attendance and gave them a chance to understand how these women shaped the lives of those around them by their selfless actions.
“This concept started when I did an interview with baseball legend Solly Walters, who was telling me about his career in the sport.
“As I listened to him talk, it dawned on me that his wife had been by his side throughout this journey. When he was coaching EP and SA sides, she was raising the family.
“I realised that these were the type of women who allowed their husbands to do these things, but were never acknowledged, and they may not have been active on the field of play, but because of their roles, their husbands were able to be.
“So while not all the women were brilliant sports people, they contributed in so many other ways,” he said.
The first batch of heroines included Helma Boggenpoel, Samantha Cornelius, Angelique Jennings, Ntombekhaya Mhlantla, Vivien Raubeheimer, Brenda Petersen-Rossouw, Belinda Scott, Yolandi Stone, Dorothy Tsotsobe and Veronica van Vught.
These women were recognised for the unselfish roles they played in the development of their respective codes in the regions they lived.
Sauls said the event, which was sponsored by the Boardwalk Hotel, Woolworths and Camelot Spa, had been taken to a different level after the trust joined hands with four women to help bring this concept to life.
These women included Nadia Domingo, Lee-Anne Vasi, Sinazo Vabaza Tundube and Amita Singh, all of whom played their part in making the event one of the most memorable events to be hosted under the trust’s auspices.
It was an evening of firsts for the trust, as it also announced Nadia Domingo as the first woman to be welcomed on the board of PESLT trustees.
The honoured legends each received a framed citation from the PESLT, as well as other gifts donated by the sponsors.
“It was so difficult to choose the first batch of women because there were so many to choose from and it tells me that we could be doing this event for the next 20 years.
“For this first batch, it was merely a group of women who really stood out for us.
“It is clear that not enough is done to honour the role of women.
“Everyone was extremely appreciative of this initiative, and the feedback from our social media and other channels has been non-stop.
“Some of these women said that in a million years that they never thought they would be acknowledged, they consider themselves simple people.
“I think we have trod in waters we never experienced before, but for our experience, this was such a special event and everyone shared similar sentiments in that the women recognised may have been from different cultures and backgrounds, but they were brilliant in what they did in their codes throughout their life times.”
Sauls said another highlight had been to have invited guests hanging on the words of guest speaker Zanele Mdodana, the former Proteas netball captain, who captured the imaginations of the crowd when she said: “Just because other people say you won’t be successful, it doesn’t mean you won’t succeed”.
Sauls said seeing the reactions of the communities these women came from, made the exercise worthwhile for them and planning for the 2024 event was already under way to find the next group of heroines.
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