As the Africa Cup of Nations draws to a close with Senegal meeting Egypt in the final on Sunday, FRANCE 24 reports from the Rails Football Academy for girls in the Cameroonian capital Yaounde, where most of the football has taken place. The young footballers dream of glory – but have to fight against prejudice and lack of means.
On a rugged, gravelly patch of earth in Elig Edzoa, a working-class district of Yaounde, 14-year-old Leslie starts performing skills – juggling the ball with her foot, soon attracting a crowd of kids. They’re soon playing the toro passing game.
It was right here in this part of Yaounde – nicknamed Rails because of the tracks crossing it – that former Cameroon star Gaëlle Enganamouit set up the country’s first women’s football academy. And it’s there that Leslie’s skills have gone from strength to strength.
“I was born and raised at the Rails; I started playing football on those streets,” Enganamouit said on the phone. “Every time I go back to Cameroon, I go back to the old neighbourhood; I had to give something back to my young sisters. The academy also shows that it’s not a bad neighborhood – that good things happen there.”
‘I’ve never seen a good player come out of beautiful pitches’
Leslie is one of many flourishing talents who joined the academy. She goes to training twice a week – but that doesn’t stop her playing football in her spare time, using every opportunity she can get to hone her skills. “I’m always ready to play – just like that,” she said, adding that she prefers to wear football outfits than to dress “like a girl”.
“Even when she was little, you could see she preferred footballs to dolls,” said Leslie’s father Jacques Manyo Bayard, pointing to two stones near the school that kids still use as goalposts.
Leslie is naturally a bit shy, but she lights up when playing at the Rails Football Academy grounds – a bumpy rectangle, with shops on one side, the rail tracks on the other, and no sidelines or nets in the goals. It’s difficult terrain to play on – but one where Enganamouit herself flourished.
“The thing about Africa is you’re playing on difficult terrain – so if you can dribble and make good passes here, as soon as you play on grass you’ll find it easy,” Enganamouit said.
“When a player really flourished, you’ve got to look at where he or she comes from if you want to understand how it happened,” added Angeline Marie Christine Gondio A Mbang, the academy’s technical director and first team coach. “I’ve never seen a good player come out of beautiful pitches,” she continued.
Angeline runs the training sessions with an iron fist. The girls follow her orders as soon as she gives them – whether it’s a movement exercise, passing or shooting. She encourages all her players to work hard, instilling in them the virtue of discipline.
“They know what to do as soon as they turn up to play,” she said. “They get dressed, they wait for me, they start juggling the ball to warm up. I teach them the skills I know. When you have these young girls in front of you, you’ve got to show them the right way to do it. You can’t develop if you’re not disciplined.”
Angeline may be an iron fist at the ground, but she wears a velvet glove off the pitch. She is close to the players and encourages them to pursue their dream; to “be like Gaëlle” and make a career in women’s football.
“I wanted to join Gaëlle’s academy because I’ve always been a fan of her as a player,” said 19-year-old Beatrice Ngo Nlend, who played at the academy since it opened in 2019. “I really dream of a playing career – I love football so much that I don’t have the words to express it; this means everything to me right now.”
“I want a career that lasts as long as possible; I want to win the Ballon d’Or, whether it’s the African one or the world one – I want to prove that I can really do something in women’s football,” said Michelle Ndjomo, 17, who envisions playing for PSG like another of her idols, Kadidiatou Diani.
“After the academy, I hope to reach the same level as the founder and win trophies; I’d also like to create a school like her to train players,” said Mélanie Eboa, also aged 17.
Families’ scepticism
Having been passionate about football since they were small, all of the girls have had to fight against the prejudice that football is a sport exclusively for men, unsuitable for women. They had to convince their families before joining the academy.
“My mother was reluctant. She said that it distorted girls’ bodies and was afraid I wouldn’t be able to start a family afterwards. I told her football is my passion. I can play the sport and have children afterwards. I pointed to the example of the American player Alex Morgan, who has a husband and a daughter,” said Michelle Ndjomo.
Leslie’s father, a construction technician, was also sceptical for some time about his daughter’s all-consuming passion for football. “I don’t like football; I think it’s not for women. A girl should go to school and become a doctor or a lawyer,” he said. “I was really hostile, but my cousin, my wife and my sister all told me to let her get on with it, because it’s in her blood.”
Now Leslie’s father is fully supportive of his daughter. He attends her matches as much as he can and gives it his all – cheering her on even in training. It’s all thanks to the Rails Academy: “There were several factors that motivated me. To start with, it’s close, so we didn’t have to pay for transport. Secondly, the academy was set up by a local player, so we’re confident that she will teach them the best way to play football.
“I prefer her to be at the academy than to play wherever with boys,” Leslie’s father concluded.
Enganamouit hopes her academy will prevent young girls from experiencing the same difficulties she went through when starting out. She remembered sometimes feeling embarrassed in the male world of football – for example, when there weren’t football jerseys, so players on one of the two teams went shirtless to differentiate themselves.
“You never feel completely comfortable,” Enganmouit said. “So the goal is to give the girls a framework so they can express themselves to each other. I’m very happy to see them together. I wasn’t surrounded by other women like that.”
Leslie also experienced difficulties playing with boys. “The girls are more disciplined,” she said. “The boys here push you to win – and you want to cry but you can’t. So we try to work on our physiques in training.
“Here in the neighbourhood the girls play better than the boys – we work harder than them; we want to be world champions!”
Enganamouit and Angeline are well aware that women’s football has evolved since they started out. International bodies like FIFA and the Confederation of African Football have ploughed money into it to boost its profile over recent years.
“The Cameroonian authorities took a real interest after our first participation in the World Cup” in 2015, Enganamouit pointed out.
Consequently, the girls at the Rails Football Academy benefit from football shirts and training equipment as well as funds to cover transport to matches.
“We didn’t get any of that; we played for fun, with no money,” Angeline said. “We try to explain to the girls that they have a great opportunity.”
All the girls hope to enjoy the same opportunity their team captain flourished from – as her career took her to the US, the El Dorado of women’s football. But this highlights that the Rails Football Academy depends on Gaëlle Enganamouit’s personal funds.
Indeed, there is no shortage of projects at the academy. One is the creation of a boarding school so girls can devote themselves equally to football and school – just as they do at Cameroon’s Brasseries football academy for boys. The two women behind Rails also hope that the Africa Cup of Nations taking place in Cameroon will benefit local women’s football. They hope to be able to use some training grounds renovated for the occasion – such as that of the nearby Ahmadou Ahidjo stadium. This would allow talented young girls from the academy to hone their skills on manicured lawns far from the rough surfaces of their local neighbourhood.
This article was translated from the original in French.
