Matildas Ellie Carpenter calls on A-Leagues to invest more into women’s football

Matildas defender Ellie Carpenter has fired up over the lack of professionalism in the A-League Women’s competition. ERIN SMITH has more.

Ellie Carpenter. Picture: Getty Images

Matildas defender Ellie Carpenter has called on the A-Leagues to start taking the women’s competition seriously so the players can focus 100 per cent on football.

Carpenter, who made her A-League debut in 2015, said it wasn’t good enough that players such as newly promoted Matildas forward Sophie Harding still had to juggle second jobs to support their professional football careers.

Harding, who was called into the team late last week to replace the now unavailable Cortnee Vine, was in the middle of a 10-hour shift when she found out she had been selected.

It is not uncommon in the A-League women’s competition for players to have a job outside football, especially because contracts are only for nine months.

“It’s not what we want, people still having to work while playing in a professional league in Australia,” Carpenter said.

Ellie Carpenter wants full-time contracts in the A-League Womens. Picture: Getty Images

“Clubs should be paying for them to be professional athletes, not having to have a second job.

“On the back of the World Cup, if we didn’t send a strong enough sign that if you can invest in women’s sport ...

“(Most of the Matildas) have gone overseas but ... we all grew up in the A-League, so that needs to be as professional as it can be.

“The girls have to have 100 per cent focus on football.

“If you are going to training after a 10-hour shift, you’re not really going to be your best as a footballer the next day on the pitch.

“There are still areas that we need to improve.

“I know a lot of people say women’s football has come so far, it’s great, look at all these numbers and girls are getting paid.

Sophie Harding has impressed at Western Sydney. Picture: Getty Images

“It’s just one step. We are nowhere near the end, there is so much work today.

“That in itself is a big warning flag that so many people in the A-League are still working.

“Credit to her (Harding) that she’s playing and performing well with a second job and now I guess she gets a taste of what it’s like to be in a fully professional environment in the national team.

“I’m excited for her to see that level up and get a taste of what it is.”

Carpenter and the Matildas will take on Uzbekistan on Saturday in the first game of a two-match Olympic qualifier series. The winner will earn a spot at the Paris Games.

The Matildas have only played Uzbekistan once, in 2007, and Carpenter said the country was very much an unknown quantity.

“I think it is going to be a very cagey game,” she said. “I’m sure they will put a lot behind the ball in the backline.

“I think we will have to try to get around a deep block, similar probably to the Iran game and Chinese Taipei.

“But we don’t know, they could come out very differently. We’ve played so many of these types of opponents before and we have tactics and ways to get around them.

“It’s going to be a tough game. Every game is tough.

A place in the Olympic Games is on the line for Australia and Uzbekistan. Picture: Getty Images

“But we know what’s on the line. These are two very important games.

“We’re not going into these games any differently than how we go into a say a quarter-final at the World Cup.”

Carpenter is no longer the only Aussie woman playing in a top-flight French league. Fellow defender Clare Hunt has made the move to PSG since the World Cup.

They have been friends for a long time after both growing up in country NSW.

“We’ve grown up together,” Carpenter said. “I’m just so proud to see her playing on the biggest stages in such a good team. I’m really happy for her.”

PSG is the first overseas club for which Hunt has played since honing her skills in the A-League.

“She did it the hard way,” Carpenter said. “She went to a country that doesn’t speak English.

“It’s probably one of the most competitive environments in European football.

“It’s a very cutthroat environment in the French Leagues but she’s settling in really well.”

Hunt’s side has reached the quarter-finals of the Champions League – a chance Carpenter said not everyone gets.

“You don’t play those matches every day so I think she will be a better player by being here and improving,” Carpenter said.

The Matildas will play Uzbekistan in Tashkent on Saturday at 8pm (AEDT).

Originally published as Matildas Ellie Carpenter calls on A-Leagues to invest more into women’s football