African women are getting a chance to shine in soccer after years of watching from the sideline

23 year old Kevin Opia wants to show everyone that African women can play soccer. I want them to also see us, see me and see any other girl out in the fields and just want to be there without any conflict. You know, coming from the back. It took a while for her to gain the confidence to start playing against her twin brother Robert and his friends at the park. My mom wanted me to focus more on my education, whereas my brother, you know, he kind of had that pursuement from her to just keep pushing. Go After his dreams. Opiate didn’t join a team until she reached high school. I started to see that people saw potential in me when I was playing. So, you know, that made me really, you know, excited and really accepted. Within the sport, they’re just as good as the men. They can hold their own. The heroics of the Matildas, as well as the African sides in the Women’s World Cup last year has sparked a conversation about encouraging girls from African families to play sport. You’d have a girl. The mom would be happy for her to stay home, watch the kids while the boys go out, go kick a football. Later this year a new tournament for African women called Karma Emoji will kick off. It’s one of the first woman’s cup in NSW for women of colour, solely based just for us. Before COVID, the African Cup organisers could only get one girls team together. They’re confident they’ll have several at Karma Emoji this year. Going to be a good year for sure. Or for Saturday? There’s plenty of pride among these footballers.