AmaTuks ladies’ team will see themselves in the Hollywoodbets Super League next season and AmaTuks player Simamkele Tshuku is determined that the club will do everything to stay at the topflight. AmaTuks ladies were crowned Gauteng SASOL League champions and finished runners-up at the SASOL National Champs, which guaranteed promotion to the women’s elite league.
Tshuku said that winning the Gauteng SASOL League has been a dream that she has been wanting to fulfill. Being crowned champions has been the ultimate dream not only for her but for the entire team.
“The day we won the Gauteng SASOL League still feels like a dream to me. It’s one of the days I will never stop celebrating because it was another door opening in my football career. The beginning of good things has come. I still to this day get excited when I think about it, you know I believe when you out there playing, you not only represent the badge, but you need to think of the name that’s written at the back of your shirt, which for me it’s my surname Tshuku.
“We are also representing our loved ones not just ourselves and the badge. It gives me so much joy and I’m very much excited for the season ahead for us. We have come a long way as a team, we fought as soldiers and I believe in each one of them, we are surely going to do well,” Tshuku told ThisisFootball.Africa.
AmaTuks had a difficult journey heading to the last day of the season. Tshuku said the team had to stay focused and admitted the team wanted to do everything to make their coach and former Banyana Banyana player Maude Khumalo proud.
“The journey heading to the last game was not a walk in the park, we didn’t have it easy with the teams we played against. I believe everyone had the same goal, which was to win the league and to move on to the Hollywoodbets Super League. But we stayed calm and believed in one another and most importantly in every game we fought for one another and protected one another. Until this day, I am proud of each one of my teammates for their character and spirit we carried throughout.
“The last game was very emotional for everyone; you could see it from the first whistle to the last that we wanted the cup and importantly it’s something we wanted to give to our coach [coach Maud]. She deserved it and we did exactly that,” she said.
Every player has personal ambitions to achieve, and personal ambitions are what help players reach new levels in their careers, it’s what drives them to become better. It’s no different for AmaTuks number 7 player, Simamkele Tshuku.
“Next season the goal is obviously to first stay in the league and to make sure that we compete in every game and collect points. My personal goal is to make sure I fix my mistakes from last season. So that it will help me grow as a player and to make sure that I perform and keep up with the game and be open-minded to learn new things,” she said.
Hollywoodbets Super League is slowly getting the recognition that it deserves, with a former PSL establishment AmaTuks joining the fold. Sooner Kaizer Chiefs will join forces after an announcement was made by Jessica Motaung that they are in the planning stage of setting up a female team. It’s just a matter of time until we see more PSL teams joining the bandwagon of the elite women’s league.
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