Record-breaking Matildas have captivated nation, but what comes next?

#Brepen And the ARU probably thought it was going to be all rosey after the 2003 RUWC.......arguably they went backwards and still haven't recovered their position. The problem occurs when you rely on the national team at a home World cup to be the 'sweet spot' for fan engagement.

Okay - - "What's next"? Well - we know that all but 2 and probably those 2 will as well - - jut off to Europe to play on contracts. So - - the A-League W doesn't see Kerr or Foord or Fowler plying their trade in front of adoring 8 year olds. Major problem - - same faced by the mens - - and not likely to change anytime soon. You've again trotted out the whinge about AFL/NRL funding. The problem with this line is that soccer is well ahead of the Rugby League and Australian Football regarding funding. Association Football is generally about equal with Rugby Union regarding Australian Sports Commission funding. The top of the table going back 4-5 years (pre covid) were Swimming and the Paralympics. Too many soccer-heads regard stadia funding as somehow code specific. I'm not sure how that works. Stadia are (other than Marvel) generally publicly owned multi purpose venues available for hire. So.....what next? The harsh reality for soccer in this country is that the international side of things is the biggest competition. Many kids now have a #20 Kerr Matilda's top....what next? A Chelsea top? The other curious thing. This Matilda's generation is largely the crop that have evolved from the mid 2000s surge in soccer participation via females. Over the last 5-10 years the other football codes in particular have upped their game. We see the story of Sam Kerr - first love was Australian Football and only took up soccer when she could not longer player 'footy' (similar to the Erin Phillips path to basketball). Over the last 10 years -- the 'next' Sam Kerr will not have had to make that move. So it will be interesting to see how things move forward -- the main thing I see is the 'talent pathway' and when you talk about funding - - you may not be aware that the Matilda's actually DO have a 'home'. It's at La Trobe Uni in Bundoora in the northern suburbs of Melbourne. "The project was funded as part of a $101 million investment by the Andrews’ Labor Government into the La Trobe University Sports Park, with the $42.29 million for The Home of The Matildas – the biggest investment ever made by any level of government for a football-specific project in Australia – made in addition to the Federal Government’s contribution of $15 million." Not sure how many times we'll see Sam Kerr there??? I'm pretty sure she's yet to set foot there.

I have my doubts and think it was just a sugar hit, as I reckon out of the crowd of 80k, there won’t be 5% of those attendees will see another professional woman’s game of football until we host the Brisbane olympics. I can remember the exact same words uttered there won’t be enough track and field stadiums after Cathy freeman won gold.

Others have spoken about what the leagues can do … applies to men and women’s leagues who do a bad job at the offical level let’s face it. But at a minimum (as said in the article) I’d like to see the media engage in more reporting and more positive reporting and I’d like to see major investment. If Govts were contemplating loss of tax revenue from a public holiday, nothing has changed really? So why not cough up. I almost chocked reading that sailing gets more funding. The support for football at a grass roots level is clearly deserving of more money.

It is important to acknowledge the support given to the Matildas during the WC has been a 'special event' support in the same way the media makes reference to the Cathy Freeman 400m run. Following that event, viewing figures for athletics return to normal and I would suggest the same low figures for the up-coming A-League W season. I have noted a few time that contributors to these pages are failing to see what is in front of them and stop blaming others when the game stagnates or worse. There is no god given right that the Australian sporting public should adopt this game on the same terms as AFL/NRL. There is no reason to assume that the sporting public MUST automatically follow soccer and by extension they are unable to make up their own minds on a preference. Nothing will move forward until we accept what is in front of us, then work to provide a mature, professional value proposition to the sporting public rather than an appearance of superiority and frankly, bordering on childish playground whining.

The A-league womens has never had any incidents with the crowd. The hools who invaded the pitch have somehow have escaped any real punishment with top of the line lawyers representing them. There seems to something bizzare going on in Melbourne the level of complicity with the law enforcement and the hools there is bizzare. I detailed the incident when a Horda hool was on the blower to police and then had City fans charged with attempted kidnapping. There should have been at least 20 jailed after the Melbourne incident nothing has happened and the hools will be back thanks to the Vic government, judicial system and the police.

We do need to crack down on any idiots, but there is a generalisation that is wrong. I have attended A Leagues games since the beginning and have only ever seen minor issues. I have seen plastic bottles thrown on the field and a couple of angry young men - pretty typical of most sports. I attend with my wife, grown up adult children and friends now, but initially took my young family. It has always been a great experience. Other sports have had different and serious issues that seem to be swept away. One code has a ridiculous amount of players who have been convicted of assault, domestic violence, sexual assault and another has booed a player out of the game and had so many more racism and drug issues. That seems to be OK!

Great headline on KeepUp says it all about what’s next in womens sport: “Matildas inspire $200m government pledge but how much will football get?”

To capitalise on the momentum the A League needs to re invent itself to capture the general market. A big crackdown on the Ultra Fans, and big bans for any carry on. We need dad’s taking their wives and children to games. For this to happen, we need a family friendly environment, not an environment of hooliganism or boorish behaviour that we see from the current fanbase.

The cause of this was the APL and (a) it’s poor decision in the first place (b) it’s crass timing (c) it’s lies when they announced the decision & reason and (d) the confusion over who voted for it (apparently they all did but Fong said he didn’t and the broke dude in Perth said it was the first he’d heard of it … or that he voted against it .. or that he was walking the dog that night) The APL had no comms plan for this. That falls on incompetent leaders. The decision was a poor one, it’s unfair, and it inspired boycotts and walk outs that continue today. The violence didn’t help but was not the reason for a failure to ride the men’s World Cup … just go ask City how many of their young fans missed out on seeing their team in a grand final cos mum & dad couldn’t afford to go to Sydney Ask Football VIC how many of their young members got to walk out as mascots, act as ball boys or bear flags on GF Day .. zip, zero, and none! You might also ask CFG how many times CCM have won at AAMI Park in the last decade. I think it’s zip … Judas club gets the gold but not the toilet seat :laughing:

I’ve had my rant (see earlier post), so in the spirit of a well-written article, what can the APL do to ride the momentum? 1/ Market the heck out of the W League now, sell independent memberships, let kids in for free - all of which I think they’re doing a good job of. 2/ Stack the first round with marquee fixtures: WSW v Sydney CCM v Jets City v Victory Nix at home Roar at Suncorp Market the heck out of this round, the “wave” won’t last long (it never has in other countries) but smash some records early doors. 3/ Move the Grand Final to a two legged affair - 1st leg goes to the highest placed team, 2nd leg in Sydney. This will take the sting out of the APLs poor management plus give some balance to finals 4/ Avoid stupid o’clock kick offs in the heat of summer. 5/ Pay them more. This is a huge issue for women, see it as an investment not a cost: build it and they will come. Divert money from marketing if you have to to pay them more, divert it from the men’s game if you have to but pay them more. 6/ Lobby State/Federal governments for facilities infrastructure. Training and match day … the same principle applies for women as men’s version: play in a boutique stadium with appropriate size/move marquee or double header games to big stadiums eg see what AFL Lions are doing in Springfield … why wouldn’t Roar women do similar??

Of course they should. The APL should not escape sanction for failing to provide adequate security on that match day either, that seems to have gone largely unsanctioned. But you’re deflecting - before the inexcusable violence occurred supporters’ backlash was massive - we saw online condemnation, cancellation of P+ accounts, protests and then walkouts at other A League games, and discussions were underway between supporters groups for a coordinated boycott similar to 2015. All of this happened BEFORE the Victory pitch invasion - the damage was done. The reason we didn’t get to see if the Socceroos performance would provide a significant uplift was because of the APLs decision to sell fans out …. not because of what a handful of hooligans did.

“The actions of a few selfish Melbourne Victory anti-fans in December last year after the Socceroo’s success ….. means that we will never know if the A-League Men would have received a boost from those fantastic Socceroos performances” Nice try regurgitating the APL line, but No! Nationwide fans were already staging protests and walkouts over the unbelievable decision to sell the Grand Finals to Sydney. Protests included cancelling P+ subscriptions (I was one of them, still won’t renew) but after the lies from APL and the action of the few you mentioned killed any prospect of compromise or discussion many have simply walked away, tired of being let down by football administrators with the APL proving themselves worse than Gallop & Co. That decision now remains an open wound. The APL of course hope a Sydney side will make the final a sell out this year - ideally both teams will make the final and sell out an 81k stadium so we can all forget how good we had it once. Watch for the draw this year - see how fair it is on non-NSWs sides? P+ and 10’s viewing numbers have been woeful. Will they renew the broadcast contract in 2 years - the strong rumour is they won’t. Where then? The lesson for the APL from this WC should be anything is possible IF you bring the fans along with you. The GF decision means fans aren’t coming along for the ride — so good luck with the new season Danny!