Lecturer Shamila Sulayman first fell in love with the “beautiful game of rugby” at the age of 11 and her passion and dedication has seen her make her mark in the male-dominated sport.
Last year the freelance radio presenter became the first woman to become president of the Collegians Rugby Club and she was also the first woman to be elected to Western Province (WP) Rugby’s Executive Committee.
Her efforts were recently recognised when she won the Volunteer of the Year Award in the Momentum gsport Awards held at The Wanderers Club, Johannesburg. The gsport Awards are the leading national women’s sport recognition platform.
“It was an absolute honour and a huge privilege to be recognised in this way by gsport when I won the 2022 Volunteer of the Year award. My decades of involvement in rugby and radio sports journalism have been nothing short of amazing! I love serving the communities that I do and I’m thankful and grateful to them for allowing me to do so,” said the Communication Lecturer in the Department of Human Resource Management.
“I often tell my children and students that the accolades and rewards from volunteer work far outweigh any monetary value – to which they normally roll their eyes! This kind of recognition also inspires others to continue to make a difference by serving our communities, whilst unearthing the raw sporting gems that we have within them. “
Reflecting on where her love of the game started, Sulayman said she was 11 when she started watching rugby on TV and later started watching club rugby at the Green Point Track.
“I grew up with three brothers and two cousins who played rugby, but who always kept me out of their rugby conversations, simply because I was a girl! I became even more intrigued and was motivated to learn and know all that I could about the game, fuelling my love and passion for it!”
She said Collegians is the only club she’s ever actively supported for the last 34 years.
Her brothers and cousins played for the club for many years during the late 80s and 90s, as well as her husband, Wajdi, who now assists with coaching the Collegians front rowers.
“Collegians RFC originated from District Six and played in the Western Province Rugby Football Union league at Green Point Track under the auspices of SACOS sport, whose slogan, No Normal Sport in an Abnormal Society, we all ascribed to during apartheid owing to its segregation laws, which kept many of our sporting heroes – of all sporting codes – from participating in provincial, national, and international arenas.“
In 2007 she was invited to serve on Western Province Rugby’s Transformation Committee; a position, which she held for 10 years. In 2017 Sulayman became the first woman in the history of the Western Province Rugby Union to be elected to its executive committee and remains a council member to date.
“My administrative years with Collegians RFC began in 2014, when I was appointed as the club’s secretary. I became the vice-president in 2018, and in another historic moment, became the club’s first female president in its 46-year-old history in November 2021.”
She also works as a freelance radio sports presenter on two shows on Radio 786.
“All of these positions are completely voluntary, driven by passion and serving communities.”
Her journey has however not been without challenges.
“As expected, being a woman in a male-dominated sport like rugby, was never going to be an easy feat, as there were many who were either bemused or simply amused that a woman would dare to enter their bastion, but there were (and are) those who welcomed my involvement, appreciating a fresh female perspective on all matters related to the game. And I was always - and remain driven by my love and passion for the game, whilst providing opportunities for our youth to play rugby and excel at it, leading them to higher honours, both in respect of the game and life, in general. “
She said few women occupy administrative and leadership positions in top-tier rugby.
“ Yet, there are many women who have been serving club rugby in our province for decades and at different levels, whether it is cooking meals for players, being the first aider, the physio, or the doctor, serving administratively as an exco member, covering media, photography, or even leading our clubs (to date, besides Collegians, St Georges RFC in Strand, is the only other rugby club, which is led by a female president). Women and girl’s rugby have also been growing phenomenally, with clubs and schools fielding teams, which feed into the provincial and national set-up. So, with all these girls and women involved in the game, our sporting federations – not only rugby must realise that the time has certainly come for women to take their rightful and earned place in sports leadership and boardrooms.”
Written by Ilse Fredericks
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SPORTS: Some of the team members with the jerseys they will run out in
