Wansato eager to dine at the big girls table in Women Premier League
Kuria community is not known much when it comes to sports. The ethnic is known for pastoralism and farming but now and unknown to many Kuria is emerging as a hidden treasure yet to explode when it comes to sports, and the community is slowly embracing it.
Marwa Chamberi, Tabaka Chacha are but pure examples of footballers who have sprouted from the community to the national level and have played for the national teams Harambee Stars and Harambee Starlets respectively.
Others are playing in the premier league, National Super League, Division One Leagues, and other lower leagues but in the FKF Women Premier League, no player from the community is featuring for any club at the moment but in the second-tier league, FKF Women Division One League, youngster Fane Mnchari Wansato is making big strides and representing the community with pride, playing for Solasa Stima Queens from Eldoret.
The beautiful and diminutive Wansato is literally a football trailblazer.
She is slowly but surely making a niche for herself as the fast-rising no-nonsense defender, a one gem of a talent from Kuria out to fill up the gap in topflight football.
Wansato who hails from the marginalised Kuria community is a second last born in a family of eight, four brothers, and four sisters and she’s the only girl playing football in the family while her two brothers, Samson Wangubo Wansato (Chemelil, Kiendege Jets FC) and Wilfred Getengai Wansato (Kehancha Cereal FC) are also footballers. The versatile Wansato who can comfortably play at both right and left-back positions 2, and 3 as well as a central defender position 5 or as a defensive midfielder says she is determined and wants to build a dream career in football, both locally and internationally. She has been making steady progress over the past few years while at Solasa and now she harbours hopes of scaling up the heights and dining with the big girls in the Women Premier League as she leads her team to challenge for promotion this year, having missed it by a whisker last season.
She added that her sheer determination will eventually lead her to her dream of playing for the national team Harambee Starlets and win many titles with the national team while playing in the women premier league before going professional.
“My aim is to have a long career in football and go professional and play for big clubs in the world, and I’m working hard towards making that dream come true and I’m thus giving my 100 per cent whenever I play,” she said.
Wansato is a rare female footballer found to have come from Kuria, started her football journey at St. Kizito Primary School in Kehancha town Kuria West Sub-County, Migori County in 2004 and became the school’s football team captain from class six to class eight.
“One of my high moments in primary school was in class 8 where I led our school team to the county games finishing fifth in the entire Migori County. It was a big achievement for the school. After that, I joined Form One in a nearby Kehancha Mixed Secondary School where I continued to hone my football and leadership skills and was once again chosen the secondary school captain,” Wansato said.
Wansato is happy to have chosen football which has paid all her secondary school and college fees where she’s currently studying procurement at Eldoret Polytechnic and while many female footballers face restrictions from parents discouraging them from playing football, to her, growing up and playing football was fun as her father who’s a football referee kept pushing her and she’s happy to get to where she is today.
“I had never thought I would make it this far and I’m still gearing up for more strides and majorly my success is because of the massive support I get from my parent. I remember when I was in high school, every competition we went to, my father made it a must-attend no matter how far it was, and then after the win, he hugs me and surprise me with something especially money,” said Wansato
She said playing in the FKF Women Division One League has been a good learning experience thus far for her.
“Division One is very promising and very competitive and I get to play with some of the best players in the league and it’s really helping improve my game. However, playing in Division One is not where I want to end my career. I still have ambitions to get to greater heights and my next target is to play in the premier league,” Wansato said.
Fane only became the second footballing import the community has produced after legendary Tabaka Chacha who plies her trade at the famous Makolanders Ladies FC (who have played into the topflight women football for 28 years, only to be relegated to Division One this year), and she could be the first Kuria girl to play abroad going by her steady rise.
