It is just a week shy of a year since Nigeria and Cameroon squared up in front of a capacity crowd at the Stade Ahmadu Ahidjo in Yaounde for the final of the 2016 African Women Cup of Nations (AWCON).
Desire Oparanozie's goal with four minutes to play handed the Super Falcons a 10th Championship, and condemned the Indomitable Lionesses to a fourth second place finish.
Nigeria celebrated at the home of the arch rivals, who slunk away in desolation after seeing a chance of a title disappear.
A few days after, the roles were reversed, in a manner of speaking. While Cameroon's ladies were treated to a state reception and given handsome rewards for their tournament performance, the Super Falcons were on the Abuja streets marching to State House demanding payment for their outstanding allowances.
That action embarrassed both the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) and the government into paying the girls, but sources told KweseESPN that the uprising played a significant role in costing coach Florence a Agbetu her job.
Not long after the Super Falcons protest, Ghana's Black Queens, who beat South Africa to finish third at the same tournament, also took to the streets to demand payment of their wages.
Nigeria, Cameroon, Ghana and South Africa are the leading women football sides on the continent, and not just because they finished in that order at the AWCON. Of those four, three appear to have found convergence with similar grievances against their administrators.
Since that final in December 2016, neither Nigeria nor Cameroon have played a single match or held so much as a training session. Ghana played one friendly against France in October, where their lack of preparation was brutally exposed in an 8-0 annihilation.
By comparison, South Africa have enjoyed a glut of quality international matches. In January, they played France, losing 2-0, then took part in a series of training sessions before arriving for the COSAFA Women's Championship, which they won in September, beating Zimbabwe 2-1 in the final.
That was quickly followed in October by a friendly against Burkina Faso, whom they beat 4-0 at home in Dobsonville.
Despite their inability to win anything at full continental level, Banyana Banyana and SAFA continue to be leading lights on the management and administration of women's Football on the continent.
In some ways, their lack of success, despite all the preparations and top notch friendlies, appears to present an embodiment of chaos for the other associations among the 'Big Four'.
Star strikers Asisat Oshoala and Desire Oparanozie were so incensed by the lack of activity on the Nigeria front that they took to social media to voice their frustrations in August.
Still nothing changed, although, after months of dithering, at least a coach was named by NFF for the Super Falcons. But since he was named substantive coach in October, neither hair nor hide has been seen of American Randy Waldrum.
Next year, these teams will return for another stab at the African title, but with bigger stakes in play: three places at the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup, which will go to the top three finishers.
But first, they will have to play qualifiers for the AWCON, starting in April. This, without any plans of friendlies, even in December.
This treatment of three of the top four sides in African women's football is symptomatic of the disdain in which the women's game is held across the continent. And it's been like that for a long time.
Ahead of the 2003 FIFA World Cup in the USA, Nigeria's Super Falcons were given inoculations a week to their trip, which left almost the entire team sick heading into their first game. Captain Florence Omagbemi collapsed midway through their opening game and had to be taken to hospital.
Prior to that, while camping for a decisive Olympic Games final round qualifier against Ghana, they were camped at the hostels at the Liberty Stadium in Ibadan, where striker Perpetua Nkwocha was forced to run out from the bathroom after sighting a snake.
The Algarve Cup, an invitational tournament hosted by the Portuguese FA for women's national teams, has been played every year since 1994 and features the best teams across the world.
No African team has ever taken part in what has become something of an unofficial World Cup.
And apart from South Africa, is rare to find an African country playing regular friendly matches against other confederations.
Looking for a reason why no African team has done well at the FIFA Women's World Cup? Look no further. It simply boils down to a lack of respect. And if we were to take it a bit further, even discrimination.