Twice a week they swap domestic chores for football, donning football boots instead of their usual rubber sandals to play in local matches.
The 35 women on the Vakhegula Vakhegula squad - meaning 'Grannies' in the local Xitsonga dialect - range from 40 to more than 80 years old and live in a township near Tzaneen, 600 kms north of Johannesburg.
"I like to play soccer because it helps us. We were sick, but now our temperatures, our blood pressures...have gone down ...even our doctors are amazed when we go for a check-up," said 47-year-old Nari Baloyi, one of the youngest on the team.
"My life has really changed...if I were to run with you I would beat you even though I'm much older," she said, smiling.
"I pray every day to God to keep me alive until 2010. I would really love to watch the games," she told Reuters.
"Some of them couldn't even walk properly and if they did something in their free time they would be knitting or sewing and sitting all the time...here they run, shout, fight with you...it keeps them young," she said.
"With young boys you need more money to achieve many things...here, I may come with my stress...but I will laugh so much until I forget everything," he said.
Dozens of local fans support the grannies' games, cheering and blowing vuvuzelas - noisy, plastic trumpets that create a cacophony of noise that is unique to South African football.
"I feel good when the (grannies) play soccer so that they can be fit and strong," said 13-year-old Chamelius Bayani.
