![]() ![]() Mukansanga has a bachelor's degree in nursing and midwifery from a Rwandan university but she has rarely used her skills in a professional capacity. "This gives me the strength and power to think about taking part in a big competition." Think carefully They're the people who keep pushing me that everything is possible. "I have people who have been to competitions of the highest level who are really motivating me. Trainers from both organisations have been key to giving Mukansanga both belief and, equally crucially, a salary as a professional. In recent times, these backers have included African football's ruling body, the Confederation of African Football, and Fifa, with the game's world governing body, which has repeatedly said it chooses referees on "quality, not gender". It's about having ambition and a goal, and this is also something else I can say - dream big." Mukansanga is the only African woman to have officiated at a men's World Cup Find your championsĪs Mukansanga freely admits, her progress in the sport would have been far less successful without the help of some key supporters. "But if you say it's in your heart, you're going to make it. "Without love and passion, tomorrow you're going to say, 'no, I'm tired, I'm going to stop' because you're going to face many obstacles, such as the fitness requirements they want, as well as them wanting women to work doubly hard as men. It was this bedrock of desire that kept the university graduate committed in the face of endless challenges. Mukansanga believes she would have achieved none of her historic feats had she not loved football. "This is what people thought - so it was up to me to fight until being appointed to the Premier League." Have passion for your role Then people also talked about speed and fitness, saying we would not make it. "People used to say, 'we'll give you a chance in the men's second division, but to go in the first division is tough as teams will not accept a woman referee'. She did eventually officiate in Rwanda's top league, but only after continually ignoring the doubters. "If you really want to reach your dream, forget what you've been told - fight, and then you can reach wherever you want to reach." Mukansanga became the first woman to referee a men's Africa Cup of Nations match in 2021 when taking charge of Zimbabwe v Guinea in Cameroon PersevereĪs she started taking tentative steps, Mukansanga continued to meet what she describes as a "grass ceiling" because of her gender. Then people tended to let boys do what they wanted in sport, yet they doubted us girls. "I was born a Muslim, so for my family to see a girl wearing a shirt and playing football, they were like: 'Oh my goodness, what is this?' On her road to refereeing at not only the men's and women's World Cup tournaments but the Olympics too, the obstacles facing Mukansanga were legion.Īmong the biggest were traditional attitudes regarding her sex and religion, and the views many held at the time suggesting a woman like her should not be pursuing such a calling. Now, here I am." Ignore conventional wisdom I said, 'What I've been thinking about since childhood could now be a reality - so let me try'. "When I got that information, I was excited. "You register with people in charge of sports in your sector, who then send it to the FA, who can then approve it. "The moment I lost the opportunity with the under-17 basketball team, I started communicating with people about being a referee," she recalls, speaking to the BBC's Africa Daily podcast. With her father having run a football team whose losses were occasionally attributed to the referee, Mukansanga was well aware of the officials' role. She switched to basketball but, after failing to make Rwanda's Under-17 team, she turned her attentions to a vocation that had long called to her. World Cup 2022: Female refs 'a positive message' for women in QatarĪs a child, Mukansanga simply wanted to play football - but with hordes of boys and girls turning out for games of what she calls "mass football", injuries were so frequent that her parents barred her from the sport.World Cup 2022: Mukansanga to 'open doors' for female referees.Here, the 25-year-old shares some of her tips for the top. So how did a one-time basketball hopeful and vocational nurse end up as a pioneering referee instead? ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |