Channel 7’s extraordinary Matildas decision for World Cup quarter-final

As the Matildas prepare for the biggest match in Australian women’s football Channel 7 has quietly made an unbelievable decision.

The Matildas move into the Women’s World Cup quarter-finals having shattered TV ratings records and pushing Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to signal a national public holiday, but their most unbelievable achievement might arrive on Saturday.

The Australian team has captured the hearts and minds of the nation riding a wave of support into a fourth quarter-final appearance against France at Suncorp Stadium on Saturday.

The match will undoubtably prove to be a momentous occasion, but the most extraordinary thing will be happening on our TV screens — Channel 7 delaying the news.

Pushing back the 6pm bulletin is an exclusive club. Steve Waugh did it chasing a memorable 100 at the SCG in 2003, as did Michael Clarke when he took three wickets in the final over to secure a miracle win against India in 2008. Dylan Alcott’s final match at the Australian Open also pushed back the nightly 6pm bulletin.

However, Channel 7 doing it for a women’s football game is entirely unprecedented.

It would have been unthinkable just a few years ago.

The Matildas face France from 5pm AEST at Suncorp Stadium and Seven’s guarantee of broadcasting the team on its primary channel means its flagship news bulletins will be pushed back to at least 7pm.

It’s caused anarchy for the network with its Saturday night AFL timeslot delayed back to 7.30pm to allow the news to sneak in between the Matildas and the Carlton-Melbourne blockbuster at the MCG.

It’s for real this time. Photo by Matt King - FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images.

Things will get particularly hectic should the Matildas go into extra time or a penalty shoot-out, well exceeding the 7pm slot the network has pencilled in for the nightly news bulletin.

It would have seemed unthinkable even just a few weeks ago that the AFL would bow to a Matildas game without much fuss — the match is only being delayed five minutes, but the pre-match coverage has been forced onto 7Mate.

Seven has also extended its pre-match coverage from 30-minutes to a full hour, beginning from 4pm.

Former Hockeyroos star turned Channel 7 AFL commentator Georgie Parker summed it up in one tweet.

“Before the World Cup I wondered whether Seven would put the Matilda’s on the main channel over the AFL,” she posted.

“Well Seven have just said they’re putting the Matilda’s on the main channel, pushing back THE NEWS. Unprecedented.

“The news is the anchor of every network. Huge.”

The Matildas are rewriting the record books. (Photo by Steven Markham/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

It’s a decision that seems a no-brainer when you look at the evidence — Australia is getting around the Matildas like no other sporting event we’ve seen.

The records tumbled on Monday night as fans crammed into Sydney’s Accor Stadium to witness the Matildas take down Denmark 2-0.

On Tuesday morning however even more records fell by the wayside with the TV ratings showing the Aussie team obliterating every other sporting code.

The round of 16 contest pulled in more viewers than last year’s AFL and NRL Grand Finals while also taking down the State of Origin.

More than 3.5 million watched the dominant display on Channel 7 – 3.18m on TV and 385,000 on the 7plus streaming service.

Not only did it leave every other sporting code in its dust, it toppled every major reality show, becoming the highest audience for any television show so far in 2023.

If we go a step further the Matildas game last night outrated every NRL Grand Final and State of Origin since 2016, while it toppled five of the past seven AFL Grand Finals.

Seven’s coverage of the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023™ has reached 9.25 million broadcast viewers plus another 1.67 million on 7plus.

Get around em. (Photo by Matt King - FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)

The showing on Monday night means the Matildas could be on the brink of taking down Ash Barty’s record-breaking figures when she won the Australian Open in 2022.

Around 3.6 million viewers tuned in last year to watch Barty beat American Danielle Collins as she became the first Australian to win the tournament in 44 years.

Suncorp Stadium is expected to be completely sold out for the Tillies on Saturday after a capacity crowd turned out to Sydney’s Stadium Australia to witness history.

The official figure sat at 75,784.

It marked one of the largest women’s football attendances of all time, and the highest ever in Australia, with the record now hit three times in recent memory courtesy of the Matildas’ tournament opener against Ireland (75,784) and the send-off friendly against France at Marvel Stadium (50,629).

Originally published as Channel 7’s extraordinary Matildas decision for World Cup quarter-final