PROFILE - YVETTE MHLAULI: The Lunch League host ready for prime SuperSport stage

Name: Yvette Mhlauli

Age: 33

Hometown: Alberton, Gauteng

The Soweto derby is one of the most emotional football games on the South African calendar. Some people have lost relationships with family, neighbours and friends because of the difference of opinion the game causes.

In Yvette Mhlauli’s home, derby days meant early dinners and quiet evenings when her beloved dad’s club, Orlando Pirates lost. However, that is how the love for football got planted in her.

“On derby days my mom would cook dinner really early. Dinner would be served at 3pm already so that if Pirates lost, my dad would have already eaten. Then everything would turn into gloom. There was no laughter allowed in the house because what was funny when Pirates lost? My love for sport started there,” she remembers.

The YFM presenter says the opportunity to enter the SuperSport MVP Talent Search came at the right time.

The Lunch League host says she had been dreaming of moving towards sports broadcasting for a couple of years but had never actively taken the time to grab past opportunities. She believes this competition was the one she had been waiting for.

FOOTBALL GURU

“I had always said that one day I’d love to move into sportscasting but I never did anything about it. On my show on Fridays we play a game called Football Face Of, it has been a year and three months of us playing the game and so far no one has beaten me.

"My love for sport kind of echoed through the people from there and I realise that I am pretty good at football knowledge. I should probably start taking this seriously. When the Search came out, something said this could be my big break,” she says.

Yvette says she hopes getting an opportunity to work at SuperSport will showcase to viewers that women can be exceptional in the world of sports.

“They can expect a lot of laughter, a lot of shocks. I am expecting a lot of meme-able moments but also a lot of positivity,” she adds.