I first met Matildas striker Lisa De Vanna eight years ago when I was 18 years old. Although “met” is a bit strong. She probably doesn’t remember it and I mostly saw her boots and six or seven goals (lost count after five) go by me as a goalkeeper in the WA Women’s Premier League.
In the intervening years, I have “retired” while De Vanna has gone on to become one of the best strikers in the world, and alongside Brazilian Marta, one of the most exciting.
It’s been a long and at times tough road to the top of the women’s game for De Vanna. Her determination, fierce competitiveness and love of the game has always got her through but in this year’s Asia Cup all of that was to be challenged.
In a match she was not supposed to play, the striker sustained a painful broken leg against China in May. “I actually thought I did something to my ankle,” said De Vanna. “My initial thought was ‘Oh my God, if I’ve done something and we have got Japan in the semi-finals and I don’t play in that, its going to kill me’.”
Her leg was broken, but as always the striker refused to take ‘no’ for an answer.
“When I found out I had broken my leg I was telling the doctor that, ‘No, you’ve made a mistake’ and even when he showed me the x-rays I was still arguing with him.” Despite her protests, she finally had to face that she would not be participating in the Asian Cup and that realisation was devastating.
“I was in tears that day and just distraught because the girls were going out to play a big game and I couldn’t contribute,” she remembered. “I refused to take painkillers for the Japan game because I wanted to feel every emotion the girls went through.”
The next match was indeed a big one. A semi-final against Asian powerhouse Japan with the winner guaranteed a spot in next year’s FIFA World Cup in Germany. It was always going to be a difficult game but without De Vanna, and with fellow striker Sarah Walsh also struggling with injury, the responsibility fell to Katie Gill.
Gill and De Vanna are great mates and have been so for many years and with Lisa despondent, it was Gill who gave her hope by making a special promise.
“She wrote me a little note saying, ‘I am going to go out there and I promise you I will take you to the World Cup’.”
“When she scored the goal I was tears and just jumped on her and thanked her for keeping my dream alive. After that I went on painkillers and I can’t remember the rest of the tournament!”
It’s now history that the Matildas went on to claim the Asian Cup in horrendous conditions against DPR Korea to bring Australian football its first international silverware.
While it was the end of the tournament, for Lisa it was just the beginning of a physically and emotionally draining comeback.
“At the time I was emotionally a mess and I couldn’t talk to anybody,” De Vanna acknowledged. “I don’t think even God himself could get me out of the mood I was in.”
“But as time passed I started to learn more about myself. More about my body, my mind and I had to learn something from it. I didn’t want to come out of this and not learn anything from it.”
Its taken her six months but last weekend Lisa De Vanna played her first minutes for Brisbane Roar since that day on 23 May. While she expresses her joy in returning to competitive football, De Vanna admits that the whole experience has changed her.
“I still wonder if I am going to be the same player as I was before. I really wonder what’s going to come out of it.
“I want to be back to where I was but sometimes I have that doubt and I still have good days and bad days from this injury. That is probably what is the biggest challenge.”
You can read a transcript of the interview at TheWomensGame website.
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