FIFA Women’s World Cup: The TV ratings for Australia v France friendly revealed

The Matildas triumphed in front of 50,000 fans at Marvel Stadium on Friday night – see how the showpiece fared on TV in a huge week of sport. Plus the latest on the Tameka Yallop injury.

Erin Smith

@_Erin_Smith

2 min read

July 15, 2023 - 4:07PM

Women's Football

Don't miss out on the headlines from Women's Football. Followed categories will be added to My News.

Matildas coach Tony Gustavsson could be forced to rethink his plans just five days out from the World Cup, with midfielder Tameka Yallop under an injury cloud but it isn’t the only concern – with TV ratings struggling.

The Matildas triumphed over the French 1-0, in front of a record, sellout 50,000 strong crowd but AFL still proved more popular to those tuning in from their couch.

Figures from MediaWeek show just 299,000 fans switched on Channel 10 to watch Gustavsson unveil his World Cup side against world No. 5 ranked France.

TV viewership fell short of the 464,000 who tuned in to watch the Melbourne-Brisbane Lions game – which was a one-point thriller.

The Matildas game just trumped Friday night NRL clash between Knights and Tigers which attracted 243,000.

It was a far cry from the 1.4 million who tuned in to watch the final State of Origin clash on Wednesday night.

Tameka Yallop celebrates Mary Fowler’s goal on Friday night. Picture: Robert Cianflone/Getty Images

The Matildas are yet to issue an update on Yallop’s injury with Gustavsson saying post match he was waiting to hear from the medical team.

Yallop hyperextended her knee in a tussle with a French player on Friday night.

Yallop wasn’t injected into the game until the 60th minute – less than 10 minutes later she was sitting on the pitch clutching her knee.

The 32-year-old attempted to battle on – limping across the pitch for several more minutes before sitting down and being substituted off.

Gustavsson, speaking after the match, said Yallop had been determined to keep playing – perhaps signalling the injury isn’t too serious.

“She was on the park and she wanted to push through and I said ‘bigger picture Meeks’ and she said, ‘OK, take me off then’,” Gustavsson said.

“It was me reminding her what this was about and its’ the bigger picture. If this was a World Cup game I think she would have kept playing.

“Hopefully by taking her off we save some recovery time and rehab time. I hope it is just a knock and nothing that is torn or tweaked, but I can’t comment on that yet.”

Sam Kerr takes photos with the sellout crowd at Marvel Stadium. Picture: Mackenzie Sweetnam/Getty Images

Gustavsson had made it clear that he was treating the send-off match as a test for their first World Cup clash with Ireland – including the substitutions.

With Yallop injured Gustavsson might have to go back to his drawing board.

Emily van Egmond proved she was back in business after a stint on the bench with a back injury.

She replaced Sam Kerr in the 62nd minute.

“It was amazing, especially in front of a sellout crowd,” Van Egmond said.

“I was buzzing, to top it off with a win, I couldn’t ask for a better comeback.”

The midfielder said the win against France had filled them confidence which they would take into Thursday’s World Cup opening clash against Ireland.

“It is crunch time now,” she said.

“We are looking forward to getting (to Brisbane), we have had a good four weeks preparation and its just taking it one day at a time.

“Just focus on ourselves, sticking to our game plan, our principles and all the work we have touched on not only in the last four weeks but the preparation we have had for the last couple of years under Tony.”