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- Banyana Banyana forward Thembi Kgatlana blamed the South African Football Association for the Tsakane Stadium fiasco and her media snub when she arrived from the World Cup last week.
- Kgatlana's request not to speak to the media at OR Tambo International Airport was not granted by SAFA the federation.
- Kgatlana added that they needed to play at a better venue than Tsakane Stadium in preparation for the World Cup.
- For more sports news, go to the News24 Sport front page.
Banyana Banyana forward Thembi Kgatlana put the blame firmly at the South African Football Association's door about the Tsakane Stadium fiasco and her refusal to speak to the media upon her return from the FIFA Women's World Cup.
Kgatlana spoke to reporters for the first time on Thursday. 17 August, at a Department of Sports, Arts and Culture breakfast hosted for them and the SA netball team by minister Zizi Kodwa.
One week before the breakfast, upon her arrival in South Africa, she had snubbed the media at OR Tambo International Airport.
Kgatlana, who had a hand in every goal Banyana scored in their group stage progression, also lost three family members during the World Cup sojourn.
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She revealed this after South Africa beat Italy 3-2 in Wellington on 2 August where she scored the winning goal that allowed Banyana to proceed to the round of 16 for the first time in their second World Cup trip.
Kgatlana contritely apologised for not speaking to the media on her arrival, but also expressed how she had asked SAFA to preclude her from media engagements as she wasn't in the right frame of mind.
"I would like to acknowledge that I was wrong in terms of the way I reacted," Kgatlana said.
"It was something I put forward where I said to the federation that I'm not in a good space to talk to the media, and the request was not granted.
"I had to protect myself by not speaking to the media where I could say a lot of things that could get me into trouble.
"Walking away was the best thing to do."
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Kgatlana said SAFA's hard-headedness was also to blame for the fiasco that was their send-off game against Botswana on 2 July when a second-string team was picked for the game in their absence.
Banyana lost that game 5-0 as the main team arrived at the stadium in the midst of a pay dispute with SAFA that was eventually resolved with the intervention of the Motsepe Foundation and National Lottery distributor Ithuba later that week.
Kgatlana said the decision to play at Tsakane Stadium, a ground not used by the Premier Soccer League because it doesn't not meet its standards, was one that did not sit well with them.
Gauteng premier Panyaza Lesufi, in the post-match press conference that Sunday afternoon on the East Rand, did explain that most grounds weren't available because of off-season maintenance, while Banyana wanted the game to take place in Mbombela.
Kgatlana said it was unreasonable that SAFA didn't meet their demand because the Tsakane Stadium's poor pitch would not have been ideal for them to showcase their skills.
"That situation could have been solved earlier because we told the federation that we didn't want to play in Tsakane," Kgatlana said.
"It was mainly because of the facilities because when you looked at Tsakane and the stadiums we played at, they were two different things.
"You look at the pitches in the Hollywoodbets Super League and they're probably at the same standard as Tsakane.
"That's not good enough going into a World Cup. I mean, we agree to play in Tsakane and when we try to trap the ball, it goes up and down and our skills come into question.
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"It's the reality of that in Tsakane, the ball bounces five times before it gets to a player, yet, at the World Cup, the pitches are watered, along with the quick pace of the game means you need those facilities to adjust.
"We told the federation that the Tsakane Stadium isn't at a level where we want to play, and we weren't listened to.
"It wasn't about the boycotting of the game because we wanted to play, but not in Tsakane because we could have gone to play elsewhere.
"There were many stadiums in the country, and it was sad to see that our key demand wasn't (met)."
