Women’s sport has long played Little Sister to men’s sports Big Brother. We all know the Little Sister, trailing behind in your shadow and given token affection or attention. One of the best examples of this is women’s football.
While football in general struggles to garner weekly media attention and find print space, the coverage of women’s football, and in particular the Matildas, has been negligible at best, but most often non-existent.
The Matildas have been playing consistently on the world’s greatest stage for nearly two decades.
When the men endured painful and heartbreaking attempts to qualify for World Cups, the Matildas made it to all but the first FIFA Women’s World Cup. Granted they couldn’t get out of the group stage, but they were there nonetheless.
Earlier this month the Socceroos were lauded for reaching the lofty heights of number 14 in the world. Rightly so. With a relatively smooth path to qualification, we have been one of the form nations in the world.
However, I doubt there are many who could tell me the Matildas current FIFA ranking (14). Nor are aware that they have been ranked as high as 12.
On those achievements, nary a word was printed. Yes, there are more countries on the men’s side of FIFA, but there are still over 100 women’s national teams in the world.
So Cheryl Salisbury and the girls went on virtually unnoticed until 2007 when it took a quarterfinal result in the 2007 Women’s World Cup for the public to register that Australia had a world-class football team right on its doorstep.
Lisa De Vanna made her way into the FIFA Team of Tournament, and on the back of their World Cup performances, Lisa was short listed for the FIFA World Player of the Year and Collette McCallum was the third best AFC female footballer.
Yet here in Perth, where I live, no one would know who these two phenomenal footballers are. Could you imagine any of the men nominated for World Player of the Year being able to walk down the street without being mobbed?
Women’s football is the fastest growing participation sport in the country.
Thankfully, the Football Australia hierarchy acknowledged that they needed to capitalise on the wave generated by the World Cup success and created the Westfield W-League.
While the first edition was hastily launched, it was still a great success with the fans as evidenced by ABC’s television ratings.
With a greater lead in time, season two should be much better organised and I look forward to some fantastic football from the ladies who play it with style.
* Brisbane Roar v Canberra United, Ballymore Stadium, Saturday 3 October, 3.00pm AEST
* Melbourne Victory v Perth Glory, Etihad Stadium, Saturday 3 October, 4.45pm AEST
* Sydney FC v Central Coast Mariners, Sydney Football Stadium, Monday 5 October, 12.15pm AEST
* Adelaide United v Newcastle Jets, Hindmarsh Stadium, Monday 5 October, 1.45pm local (2.15pm AEST).
Are you the ultimate team manager? Pick your own superstar team and go head to head with other football fans for glory and cash prizes on Draftstars. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.
What if we celebrated all of the achievements big and small, and weeded out those hell-bent on bringing down a game that is doing a hell of a lot right?
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