For the most part, the Matildas have grown and developed into one of Australia’s most talented and treasured national teams in spite of, rather than because of the support of, those governing football.
As we approached yet another World Cup, one which many hoped Australia would surpass their historic 2015 run to the quarter-finals, we learned more and more about the history of the women’s game.
The publication of Greg Howe’s Encyclopedia of Matildas told the story of self-made women and administrators who carved a game out for themselves when no one else seemed interested.
We learned of pioneers who dedicated the little spare time they had away from their careers and families to build a brilliant culture and an even better pipeline of talent for the national team.
It is, therefore, a tragedy of Shakespearian proportions that their greatest opportunity at World Cup glory was ruined by a governing body suddenly interested enough to meddle in the team’s affairs.
We still do not know why Football Federation Australia felt the need to take the drastic step of sacking Alen Stajcic so close to the tournament.
Alen Stajcic (Photo by Catherine Ivill/Getty Images)
We don’t know why Ante Milicic was the preferred candidate, or why he was only given two friendly games to implement his changes before the World Cup.
It would be naïve to suggest the Matildas’ underwhelming performances in France were solely about the coaching change.
The team was plagued by poor individual performances in each game, failed to score in crucial moments and even endured a couple of moments of bad luck against Norway.
But regardless of the range of factors which contributed to the Round-of-16 exit, it would be hard to argue that the FFA delivered an environment which would give the Matildas the greatest chance of success.
Worse yet, with FFA’s financial plight worsening, perhaps it will be years before a similar opportunity reveals itself.
With the split of the A-League and W-League from the FFA due by the end of the week, perhaps the one great hope for the continued development and improvement of the women’s game lies with the clubs themselves.
In splitting from the FFA and controlling their own destiny, the clubs will take a massive amount of control and responsibility for the development of both the men’s and women’s game.
If the Matildas are to continue to consider themselves one of the best teams in the world, then the W-League needs to grow exponentially, provide a longer season and more games for our players to keep up with the explosion of investment occurring in Europe.
It is laughable to think that a team like English heavyweights Manchester United, one of the richest teams in the world, did not bother with a women’s team until last season.
Spanish giants Real Madrid will launch their own team next year.
No one should be applauding these giants of the game for such belated investments, but the fact that they have finally taken the plunge means better facilities, better coaching and better pay for the next generation of women in their countries.
It also means greater competition for the clubs who already take their women’s football seriously.
The slow awakening in clubland has already paid great dividends for the European nations at this World Cup.
The Round of 16 featured eight European nations and to date, only Spain have been eliminated – and they were knocked out by world champions, the United States, courtesy of some questionable VAR intervention.
We know that even an independent A-League and its clubs will not have the sheer capital to invest in women’s football of their counterparts.
But any serious conversation about how the separation of the professional game, both male and female, and the FFA will benefit the development Australian national teams must also include the women’s game.
Reported discussions between the W-League and the National Women’s Soccer League in the United States are a good start.
Resource sharing between the two competitions would benefit both clubs and players by ensuring higher quality games and players for both competitions, raising the bar in both.
The development of a proper home base for the Matildas in Victoria is another important milestone.
It’s not all doom and gloom, but while the independence of the professional game in Australia will give clubs greater control of their destiny, it also means there is much more responsibility on them to act in the best interests of the game.
That responsibility includes the women’s game and while we wait with bated breath to learn more about what the next week means for the A-League, a possible second division and more, we should also have our fingers crossed for a new and improved W-League.
It’s the least the powers that be can do for the Matildas after their failure to them in the lead up to France 2019.
The Ball Bobbled
Roar Rookie
Well Pauline, seeing you asked. WiF is independent from FFA. Staj appears to have a great deal of support outside the FFA committee so its no surprise to see his appointment. The same could be said for Bonita Mersiades. Two excellent appointments for this committee imo.
Fadida
Roar Rookie
Did it affect the penalty shoot out?
Stevo
Roar Rookie
Well it just gets more interesting doesn't it. From this article today: https://www.smh.com.au/sport/soccer/simon-longstaff-open-to-leading-ffa-s-proposed-alen-stajcic-probe-20190626-p521hz.html "Stajcic is one of eight inaugural committee members of Women in Football (WiF), a new group which aims to address the imbalance in gender representation within Australian football and support women seeking to become "active players" in the sport. WiF is modelled on a group of the same name in the United Kingdom, and will be headed by FIFA World Cup whistleblower Bonita Mersiades, an ex-FFA employee and now staunch advocate for structural reform in international football." Alen gets the boot by the FFA from his coaching job because of 'issues' but is seen fit enough to get invited to this new group. Somebody please explain.
pacman
Roar Rookie
This article has gone off topic, and I am as guilty as any other poster. But what are the clubs going to do for the Matildas, or the Socceroos for that matter? Is it the clubs' responsibility? I would have thought this is within the realm of the FFA. They are responsible for the performances of the national teams. The clubs are responsible for the performances of club teams. Quite a nonsensical headline I must say. So, how is the FFA going to overcome its failure regarding the Matildas? How about looking at stability in the coaching area? Like, if changing a coach comes onto the agenda, sensibly select the timing of the change. Like, wait until after the Matildas fail at the World Cup before replacing the coach! Don't, for goodness sake, undermine several years of climbing up the world rankings by declaring these improvements were achieved in a toxic atmosphere. Such a declaration smacks of incompetence and dubious agendas. How many FFA board directors have a meaningful connect with football? Their business CV's are impressive, but their football CV's?
The Ball Bobbled
Roar Rookie
New coach Milicic was not appointed until February 18 - then he had to get things organized which didnt happen in 5 minutes - he had more like 4 months with them not 6
Aussieinexile
Roar Rookie
your last comments is correct, and I wonder how much of that was brought in by Ante Milicic, all coaches bring their own system but sometimes they take the best bits from their predecessor
pacman
Roar Rookie
Or a 4-4-2 which, in transition, can become a 4-2-4, although one needs the players capable of not only playing this system, but interchanging when necessary to avoid wide midfielders becoming fatigued. Not appropriate if the team consists of specialist type players restricted to playing only one position, e.g. a RB not capable of playing CB, or vice versa. Anyway, all hypothetical, and we amateur pundits do well to heed the advice of the late Brian Clough: "Players lose you games, not tactics. There's so much crap talked about tactics by people who barely know how to win at dominoes." That said, one should never ignore the influence a coach has on the style ado[ted by his/her team.
Jordan Klingsporn
Roar Guru
Rebecca Wilson doesn't like football fans. FFA's fault.
Aussieinexile
Roar Rookie
Alen Stajcic was fired in January 6 months prior to WC, Irrespective of the reasons of the sacking. The players are elite level and had 6 months to sort themselves out. The group stage hid the deficiencies of the team. The win against Brazil was fortunate otherwise it would have been a draw every team in the group put 3 goals past Jamaica. The issue was in defence Norway got behind them on several occasions. They had a 4 – 2 – 3 – 1 it seems to me Australia had an attacking lineup and should have change in the second half to 4 – 3 – 3 to protect their rear and help their strikers.
Buddy
Roar Rookie
I recall Mr Keating lamenting that we don’t invest the money and time into the arts the way sport is funded in this country although in recent years it appears that funding has perhaps dried up somewhat. I think the nut you are trying to crack open is to do with where on the list football comes, country by country and as we all know, by whatever quirk of fate some 150 years ago, football became the dominant sport across the planet and receives enormous support in so many countries with Australia and USA being slightly at odds with the rest of the world. However, that is changing. In the USA right now, the MLS has gone on in leaps and bounds and is covering many cities and is well supported as a whole. Meanwhile in Australia, it is a game played by many for fun fitness and friendship but there are many things that work against the sport although they are changing too. As the population changes - and it is, if the right moves are made, football will continue to grow and expand and eventually (not in my lifetime) will most likely become the dominant sport here too. Whether the country is able to produce world class coaches and players is another story but even now, our men’s national side is ranked 43rd out of 211 countries in FIFA rankings. We are above Scotland, Norway, Greece, Bulgaria, which is pretty good although I’d love to see us break the top 20. For me that is around where par should be so we have a fair way to go but look at the opposition and their histories, players, coaches, facilities. We have some catching up to do for sure.
pacman
Roar Rookie
I agree LH, it is not possible to change a coach without affecting the performance of the team, either positively or negatively. I am positive it had a negative effect.
kAngas
Guest
Chris Agree with you I’d throw Argentina in as semi final chance too in the r w c As much as I look forward to the rugby World Cup with optimism for a different winner ,,, the inevitable reality is that New Zealand will have to fall apart not to win again, or worse case England will win it .
Lionheart
Roar Rookie
add to that of course, that there is a difference between the men's and women's game, apart from the difference in coaching men and women regardless of the game, and the new coach had no previous experience in the women's game. or coaching women. And he's going back to the men's game soon. It's just a crazily illogical decision to appoint him when they did.
kangas
Guest
Jack I disagree, the cricket World Cup is usually won by Australia and the rugby by Australia South Africa or New Zealand.. Still those tournaments are not as straight forward as they sound , but only 2-3 teams could realistically win As for the soccer World Cup , you would have a different top 6 in the betting market every World Cup Italy in 1982 ( Brazil were odds on pre tournament , Italy would have been in double figures pre tournament) France win in 1998 (( rugby union mad nation finally winning soccer World Cup ) Spain win in 2010 ( always went out in the quarters ) Germany in 2014 ( Spain especially considered by then as unbeatable.and went out at the group stage ...Brazil and Argentina were highly favoured I don’t buy the argument that other nations like Chile ,England holland, Belgium Switzerland Croatia Portugal Cameroon Nigeria Mexico are making up the numbers in the future tournaments The rugby World Cup is a fantastic tournament but New Zealand are going to win at least every second tournament in the foreseeable future .
Nemesis
Guest
The World Cup requires a whole nation of footballers to click together over a 7 match tournament. Portugal has never won a World Cup. Neither has the Netherlands. Only a football illiterate would suggest this equates to football is "not a world game at the top level". The utter rubbish that football illiterates insert into every football discussion is beyond belief.
kangas
Guest
Chris While I totally agree soccer needs more fields for all the players of all levels, and again i will state the obvious fact that the state government is prioritising spending on the big stadiums in Sydney ( imo wrongly). But the govt won a mandate in the last elections to build the stadiums and of course public spending in so many other areas will suffer . Local councils and clubs have to go through lots of submissions to get partial state funding for grounds and this is not going to get easier However , imo to be an elite soccer player, it’s probably all the learning and squill acquisition done away from the field which will make a difference The future Messi and ronaldos are kicking and passing and dribbling a soccer ball in theur backyard or loungeroom or against a wall on their own several hours a day . So overcrowded training fields are problematic , I doubt they will stop a future champion
chris
Guest
But over the last 5 World Cups - 5 different teams have won it. And there are probably 20-30 teams in the world that can win it/make the final/semi at any given time. I will guarantee that the Rugby WC this year in Japan will have semi finalist made up of: 1/ NZ 2/ England 3/ Ireland 4/ France 5/ Aus 6/ Wales Basically 6 teams vying for 4 spots. And the cricket WC is even more predictable.
Wayne
Roar Guru
Sam Kerr, Ash Sykes, Hayley Raso, Lisa De Vanna, Michelle Heyman, Ellie Carpenter all play(ed) in the USA before the start of the W League season that I can name of the top of my head. After some research can add: Teigen Allen – Western New York Flash (2014) Laura Alleway – Orlando Pride (2016–2017) Ellie Brush – Houston Dash (2015–2016) Ellie Carpenter – Portland Thorns (2018–) Steph Catley – Portland Thorns FC (2014–2015) – Orlando Pride (2016–2017) – Seattle Reign FC (2018–) Caitlin Foord – Sky Blue FC (2013–2015) – Portland Thorns (2018–) Katrina Gorry – FC Kansas City (2014) – Utah Royals FC (2018) Amy Harrison – Washington Spirit (2019–) Elise Kellond-Knight – Seattle Reign (2019–) Alanna Kennedy – Western New York Flash (2016) – Orlando Pride (2017–) Sam Kerr – Western New York Flash (2013–2014) – Sky Blue FC (2015–2017) – Chicago Red Stars (2018–) Chloe Logarzo – Washington Spirit (2019–) Clare Polkinghorne – Portland Thorns FC (2015)[6] – Houston Dash (2018–) Hayley Raso – Washington Spirit (2015) – Portland Thorns FC (2016–) Kyah Simon – Boston Breakers (2013, 2015–2016)[7] – Houston Dash (2018–) Emily van Egmond – Seattle Reign FC (2013) – Chicago Red Stars (2014) – Orlando Pride (2018–) Lydia Williams – Western New York Flash (2014) – Houston Dash (2016–2017) – Seattle Reign FC (2018–)
kangas
Guest
If we didn’t have rugby league, we would still have rugby union as it was the original code But say we didn’t have those rugby codes , would Australia be great at soccer .... the answer is a pineapple,. The skill sets of the rugbies and I think the love and desire to play and practice either rugby or soccer as a kid come from different parts of the brain wiring A kid wanting to play either rugby code and succeed , needs a hard edge and fearless or reckless desire to get involved in regular painful on field collisions, and enjoy the pain so to speak. The skill development and tactical side of the rugby codes can be achieved at later ages , ...as athletic talent and aggression will take you along way inially ... I’m not saying this is bad , it’s great fun.. , it just requires different ways of thinking about sports to soccer . Soccer players who make it elite levels would be masterful at the skills at very young ages , probably by 10 years of age otherwise it’s too late to totally catch up to the elite level. So much of the skill development of the elite soccer players would be done before he/ she gets to the playing field or a club .
Jack
Guest
The men's World Cup has been shared between 5 countries for the last 50 years. It's not a world game at the top level. It's a game of 5 or 6 contenders with the rest making up the numbers. The only difference from Rugby or Cricket is the number of countries that have no chance of winning.