On Sunday, Chelsea claimed their fourth Women’s Super League title and firmly established themselves as the most successful team in England.
Along with two runner-up finishes in 2014 and 2016, the four championship years of 2015, 2017-18, 2019-20 and 2020-21 clearly make the Blues the dominant force in the English league. They are stacked with stars and arguably the best in the world right now.
Australia’s Sam Kerr scored one of Chelsea’s goals in the 5-0 drubbing of Reading in the final match of the season. It was her 21st goal in a campaign that lasted just 22 games. The title came down to the final day, with Chelsea requiring all three points to ensure they remained ahead of the eventual runner-up Manchester City.
The champions of England now turn their thoughts to the UEFA Women’s Champions League final against Barcelona on May 17. A win would cap off a stunning year and another successful Kerr strike would further enunciate her rare skill, professionalism and genius.
Kerr is potentially the best Australian footballer we have ever seen.
(Photo by Craig Mercer/MB Media/Getty Images)
Golden Boot awards on three continents say a lot about the 27-year-old’s talent, with the country, league or climate utterly irrelevant when it comes to her ability to find the back of the net more consistently that any Australian footballer over an extended period of time.
Sadly, I mentioned her most recent success and my intention to write about it to a colleague on Monday, whose reply has subsequently seen me delete him as a contact and lessened my opinion of him.
“Pfffft,” he said.
“Women’s football, who cares?”
Such archaic and neanderthal views around women playing the game are clearly still evident and probably destined to be so for some time to come. Yet it was sad to hear it from someone who claims to be a fan and supporter of not only the Australian game as a whole, but also the Matildas.
Most tragic of all was the simple fact that when quizzed, the individual in question was happy to admit they had not watched any of the Super League matches, very few highlights, nor the actual match where Kerr had played a pivotal role in securing the title for the Londoners.
It appears that many of those insistent on criticising the depth and quality of the women’s game are doing so without first-hand knowledge of it and I’m not sure what Kerr, Caitlin Foord, Hayley Raso and Ellie Carpenter have to do in order to alter perception and bring them along for the ride.
(Photo by Tim Clayton/Corbis via Getty Images)
At the core of such a reluctance to engage with and value women’s football are questions around its depth, quality and ultimate commercial value. Each can be countered quite simply.
The issue of depth is being organically dealt with as exponential growth continues to provide absurdly brisk advances in the quality of the world’s biggest leagues.
The English Women’s Super League has morphed into a powerhouse in the blink of an eye, with Australia’s best players engaged to participate in the highest quality of football they have ever seen.
Regarding questions of quality, the doubters only need to actually view the content and realise that what Sam Kerr produces on a weekly basis is just a snapshot of the talent and skill on display.
The 2019 World Cup in France showed quite clearly that the commercial success of women’s football is real, tangible and something on which Australia and New Zealand should be looking to capitalise on when this festival of football arrives on our shores in 2023.
An argument could well be mounted that Kerr is the greatest Australian football of all time, something that at the age of 27 would be quite astonishing to achieve.
Sadly, many will swipe such a thought from their mind instantly, based mostly on the fact that Kerr is a woman and playing in a version of the game they see as being inferior to male competition.
For them, Tim Cahill’s 50 goals in 108 appearances for the Socceroos and the statistical records of many other male players places them above what Kerr has achieved thanks to the consistency and quality of the opponents faced.
But for how long can such a view remain valid? As the women’s game continues to grow in size, depth and quality, when will Kerr’s 52 goals in 49 matches for Perth Glory, 35 goals in 43 starts for the Chicago Red Stars and her 22 successful strikes in 26 matches for Chelsea be granted the same or superior weight?
It is time to acknowledge the fact that Sam Kerr might well be the greatest Australian player we have ever seen. We should never qualify her achievements due to gender and simply view her as the most wonderful footballer we have.
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
Best and Weah never played at a world cup thats disadvantage. Yashin you mean Lev Yashin won a European championship. Making a world cup final is fair achievement. Most of those other players were lucky enough to be in a good generation , De Bruyne and Hazard with all the other stars. Ivory Coast had plenty of stars to go with Drogba.
Steven Harris
I'm pretty sure there's nobody doing tiime for belittling ..as a educator you should know that
Steven Harris
Cowards hide behind flags
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
For a defender such as Salisbury to be in top 3 goals is incredible and not something I remember that much, I suspect a bit of Mori, Archie and Zdrillia action, who did she score the goals against.
Stuart Thomas
Expert
Blatant sexism and discrimination is not merely a disagreement on opinions. Belittling women's football is wrong, flat out wrong, and I'd prefer not to engage with people who feel that way and apply that thinking in their lives. We actually have laws against doing so.
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
I suspect your being sarcastic, when Stosur started she had Williams sisters, Henin, Clijsters, Sharapova around.
Steven Harris
You have noble professions that was not my intent to cause you harm.the fact that you would cut off contact from somebody that you previously had interaction and obviously had a common relationship with only because they disagreed with you is a and only the problem I have with cancel culture.
Stuart Thomas
Expert
Nicely written Jupiter. I'm also getting a little sick of all these cheap clichés being thrown around every time someone dares express an opinion.
Stuart Thomas
Expert
You’ve cancelled me? Will I get that officially in the mail? Would never insult you personally or your profession as you did mine (even though I’m not sure I’ve ever been a “educator pathetic (sic)” . Perhaps think a little about the barb you chose to throw and the fact that the recipient might be prepared to respond and potentially be a little bit smarter than you.
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
You talking about the US, they have a lot of players and you have to queue up to make the team, they favour the incumbents ,secondly they have their players go to the college system as well. The college system is both a strength and a weakness, its a strength is that they give out about 2000 college scholarships Its a weakness in that they delay the player development but they have a bigger player base.
Steven Harris
Sorry iv cancelled you and have a lesser opinion of you.
Stuart Thomas
Expert
Correct, probably why she can be discussed as the best footballer we have ever produced.
matth
Roar Guru
No if you are better than your peers you are better than your peers. The saying is “so and so has no peers “. The point I was making is has a male footballer ever been in those upper echelons of the men’s game? At the moment if you are asked who are the top players in the women’s game today Kerr will likely be mentioned in your first half dozen names. Only the most parochial Australian would ever say that any male footballer has ever been at level
Stuart Thomas
Expert
Does ginger beer have alcohol in it? Because I don't see any validation in those comments to your original point. Of course she is a generation after!
Stuart Thomas
Expert
So if you are better than all your peers, you essentially have no peers? Very strange logic.
Stuart Thomas
Expert
You've used a stat but failed to provide contextual detail. "According to data from Nielsen, 3.2 million viewers — 1.4 million of them women — watched the men’s U.S. Open final last year. A total of 1.6 million viewers watched the women’s final, including 719,000 women, although that was televised in mid-afternoon, while the men’s final was during prime time." That prime time thing kind of makes a huge difference.
Stuart Thomas
Expert
Good on them. Considering the eight ball they often start behind in sport it is timely and well deserved.
Guppy
Guest
If there was an Aussie lad who was the best player at the U17 World Cup and carried the team to every win and won the golden boot and won all the awards, I still would not say they were the greatest Australian footballer of all time. Even if they are the best amongst their peers etc etc.
TL
Guest
I disagree with this view. The average age of players in the US Womens World Cup winning team in 2019 was 28.7. In the last ten years they have given the majority of minutes at World Cups to players between 25 and 31. The peak age for women soccer is not before players have developed in strength and experience. At 27 Sam Kerr can only get better.
The Ball Bobbled
Roar Rookie
WTF?