Matildas on the up in national popularity ranks at the expense of the struggling Wallabies

The Matildas have once again leapfrogged the Wallabies on the list of Australia’s favourite national sports teams.

The Aussie women’s soccer team have jumped into fourth spot behind the Australian Test team, their male counterparts the Socceroos, and the 2022 Rugby League World Cup champions, the Kangaroos. The Wallabies have once again slipped to fifth.

The two national sides have swapped positions a couple of times over the years, with the Matildas moving up into fourth spot in July 2020 and March 2022, but the margins between the two were minimal. There is now a large gap separating the teams, with results from last year having a huge impact.

The Wallabies had a disappointing 2022,  losing a home series against England after going 1-0 up and then being beaten by South Africa,  Argentina and New Zealand to continue their Bledisloe Cup drought. Although they had some tight games a loss to minnows Italy on the Spring Tour was enough to seal the fate of coach Dave Rennie.  The Kiwi was replaced by Eddie Jones who faces a race against time to get the team back to full force ahead of the World Cup in September.

The women on the other hand were very impressive in 2022, taking the scalps of some of the top nations towards the end of the year. After knocking over South Africa and Denmark in October, they followed it up with a historic 4-0 thumping of World number two Sweden in November.

 (Photo by Rodrigo Valle/Getty Images)

The support and success of women’s sport continues to grow in Australia, with the NRLW and AFLW both coming off successful seasons. The Jillaroos were crowned back-to-back champions after taking out the RLWC last year, and the domestic competition will increase from six to ten teams in 2023.

But the women with the round ball are way out in front with popularity amongst fans across both genders. And according to the Sydney Morning Herald, most of the credit and praise can be directed towards their biggest superstar, Sam Kerr. The impact the star forward has had on the success of the Matildas has been undeniable, and it extends further than just the results on the scoreboard.

“It goes to demonstrate the power of having that person who really embodies and personifies that national team,” Simon Wardle, the president of Futures Sport and Entertainment, told the SMH.

“We see the same with [Lionel] Messi winning the World Cup – it wasn’t Argentina winning it, the story was Messi winning it. What we’re seeing from a lot of the research that Futures does is that ‘hero worship’ to that star player is becoming more and more of an important factor for fans engaging with sports.

(Photo by Matt King/Getty Images)

“A lot of that is being driven by the fact that, especially when you look at those younger fans, the Gen Z fans, more of their consumption is through non-traditional [media], social, digital. They’re engaging with the players ahead of, or as well as, the teams.

“That celebrity element is so important to those fans and their engagement with the sport and the team. It’s a stronger driver of passion for sport. Here, we’re talking about favourite national teams, but what you’re also seeing now is a relatively new phenomenon where star players are moving from club to club, and fans are changing loyalty, depending on where their favourite player is playing, which would never have happened back in the day.”

While Kerr is undoubtedly the most famous on the team list, the side is full of talent who have become household names in their own right including Caitlin Foord and Mary Fowler. And the popularity of the Matildas is expected to grow even further leading up to the FIFA Women’s World Cup to be held on home soil in July and August.

As for the Wallabies, we will have to see what kind of magic returning coach Eddie Jones can do.