‘She’ll be a 10-year Matilda’: Why rising star Charlie Rule is the next big thing in football

At 21, Charlie Rule is not only the youngest Matilda – she is a rising superstar in her own right, playing for England’s Brighton & Hove Albion and becoming a TikTok sensation.

She may be the youngest Matilda, but Charlie Rule is wise enough to do things differently. The 21-year-old is a multi-position star, having risen through the ranks of the under-20s Young Matildas to become a standout defender with A-League Women’s Sydney FC, where she played in three consecutive premierships and was named Player of the Match in the 2021 Grand Final.

Last year, she relocated from her home in Sydney to England, signing as a midfielder to Women’s Super League club Brighton & Hove Albion.

But Rule isn’t just ruling the football field: she also has a popular TikTok with her best friend, fitness influencer Bayley Norris – aptly titled “Bayley & Charlie” – that has 5.7 million likes and counting. “We were having a bit of fun, taking the piss,” she says of the duo’s internet fame.

Picture: Simon Upton for Stellar

That casual, carefree attitude comes across in front of the camera when she poses on set for Stellar.

“That was my first shoot,” Rule admits. “It was pretty fashion-y. I’d never done that before. I can go into a [football] game not nervous because I know what I’m doing. Here, I didn’t know what I was doing. But I love the fashion side of things. I’m not like a girly girl who dresses up and wears make-up. I’m kind of plain and wear whatever I feel comfortable in.”

Despite being in the midst of rehab for a hip injury, Rule joined Stellar on a recent return trip to Australia, during which she cheered from the sidelines as she watched the Matildas squad, with whom she made her debut in 2021.

“I grew up surfing – I’m pretty lucky to call this home,” Rule says, recalling her childhood in the coastal Sydney suburb of Bronte and later North Bondi, where her family still lives. “When I come back from England, I’m like ‘Wow, this is home.’”

The rehab means that Rule missed the opportunity to join the Matildas side for the Paris Olympics next month. “I’ve had a hip injury for a couple of years. I had to kind

of get it sorted – and to be ready for the next [Brighton & Hove Albion] season,” she says. “It was my goal to go to the Olympics – to be in the squad. It hasn’t worked out and I have to prioritise my health.

“About a month-and-a-half ago, I had surgery on my hips. We made that decision to do that now. The recovery time I could have pushed, but I didn’t want to. I wouldn’t have had much game time under my belt,” she adds pragmatically. “There are World Cups and other Olympics coming later – I’m doing what I can to get ready for them.”

Picture: Simon Upton for Stellar

Still, the impact of the national side’s performance during the FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand last year isn’t lost on Rule, who counts Matildas stars Cortnee Vine, Mary Fowler and Ellie Carpenter among her role models.

“They’re only my age or a couple of years older,” she notes. “It’s crazy to see how well they’re doing. It’s really good to learn from those players.”

Recalling the massive turning point for women’s sport thanks to the World Cup being played on home soil, Rule says, “The stadiums were full and there was so much support; it’s always been about the men, and finally the women are more supported than the men. It’s really good for young girls to look up to them.”

While the Olympic Games may not be on the cards for now, Rule has big ambitions – though she admits she’s “not really looking too far ahead. I’m trying to do whatever I can and wherever I land, that’s where I’m meant to be. I’m trying to stay happy off the field. There’s a World Cup in Brazil [in 2027], which would be really cool.

“I want to do the most I can – and not put too much pressure on myself to get somewhere,” she adds.

“There are trophies I want to win, but the most important thing to me is off the field and making the most of every day.”

Picture: Simon Upton for Stellar

That positive attitude has served Rule well. As Sydney FC coach Ante Juric points out, she has the makings of a 10-year Matilda. “She’s that kind of player – and she’s only still very young,” Juric tells Stellar. “That will be her standard, similar to the current Matildas who have been [playing] for 10-12 years. Charlie is that level, that standard. That’s how good she is as a player.”

Juric – who was a part of the team that convinced Rule to join Sydney FC in 2018 – recalls meeting her when she was just 14 years old and part of the elite Football NSW Institute development program.

“Charlie was a standout for her age. She trained with us [at Sydney FC] for a year before we signed her,” Juric recalls, adding that Rule was “technically exceptional”.

“She was a midfielder when I saw her. We did end up playing her [at] fullback, where she excelled,” he adds. “And she’s gone overseas from there.”

Rule now calls England home for at least half the year. So what does a day in

the life look like for the international superstar in the making?

Young gun! Charlie Rule in action for her former A-League Women’s club, Sydney FC, in 2021. Picture: Getty Images

“We go in [to the club] for breakfast around 8.30am, we have a team meeting then we train, break for lunch, then gym or another meeting,” she says simply. “It’s quite long days, but I love it. It’s like full-time work.”

Being a professional athlete was always Rule’s dream growing up in a sports-loving household.

“My mum and dad were athletes, not footballers,” she says. “My dad [Greg Rule] is a [former ironman] cyclist, my mum [Jacinta Jacobs] was a track athlete [in the heptathlon]. They gave me the sporty genes. My brother, Bailey [Rule], started playing football, and I followed in his footsteps – we’d play in the backyard in Bronte, then I joined a boys’ team with my cousin.”

Picture: Christopher Ferguson for Stellar

Speaking about Bailey, her 23-year-old sibling who plays football for the semi-professional club Sydney United 58 in the National Premier Leagues Men’s NSW competition, she says: “He has been the biggest influence on me. His dream was to play in England as well – I’m doing it for both of us. In England, you can make a living off [playing football].

“I’m living the dream. I think how lucky I am to be able to play a sport that I love for a job, and do it every day. It’s so, so good.”

Read the full interview and see the shoot with Charlie Rule inside Stellar. For more from Stellar, click here.

Originally published as ‘She’ll be a 10-year Matilda’: Why rising star Charlie Rule is the next big thing in football