Banyana Banyana leading striker Thembi Kgatlana has opened up on the recent squad "disruptions" prior to finally jetting off to the FIFA Women's World Cup and revealed her reservations toward their contracts with SAFA.
Banyana's preparations for the World Cup in New Zealand and Australia were disrupted by a payment row with the South African Football Association on the eve of their send off friendly match against Botswana last weekend.
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There were alleged threats that if Banyana do not accept SAFA's contractual proposals, they would be replaced by another group of players but Kgatlana says they never feared they would not go to the World Cup.
"I don't think it was an issue, it was never a problem because the squad was out, it was going to be difficult for the federation to get another group or set of players," Kgatlana said on eNCA.
"I think it was going to cause even more disruption to the country than what it has done now. I don't think it was never a question of 'Are they going to bring a new squad or not?' because it was a short time to organise visas and all those things. So, I'm happy everyone is going to the World Cup," she said.
"To be honest, I don't know because it's different to prepare for the World Cup or any tournament, playing friendlies and actually being at big tournaments," she said.
"We can agree to disagree that we had so many preparations for the 2019 World Cup but we were out on the first round. So, I think who best wants to win on that day and now that we know our struggles and we're not the only ones struggling, there are lot of federations struggling, so it's not a question of mentality, are you there or not but I think it's just going to the World Cup because we waited this long."
The World Cup monetary contractual disputes between Banyana players, represented by the South African Football Players Union (SAFPU) and SAFA were put to bed on Tuesday evening after Motsepe Foundation, with the mediation of the government, intervened to settle the shortfall. Though, Kgatlana revealed that they did not sign contracts but "annexures" and there's still a long way to go for all parties to be happy for the long-term.
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"I mean, we didn't sign the contract, we signed an annexure, so a contract is an on-going thing, it's not something that you can sort out (that quickly)," she said.
"That's why for many years it was never settled. We need to come into an agreement of course, over a long-term of things that need to change.
"It's constant negotiations between the union and the federation to come to a perfect agreement of making sure that all parties are happy," she insisted.
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