Matildas fans dudded by ‘ridiculous’ move ahead of Paris Olympics

Fans of the Matildas aren’t happy with a “ridiculous” broadcasting move for their last game before the Paris Olympics.

Australian football fans will have to cough up if they want to tune into watch the Matildas play their last game before the Paris Olympics.

The Matildas take on Canada in the Spanish city of Marbella on Sunday at 5am Australian time in their final tune-up before the Olympics.

But viewers might be scrambling to watch the Tillies in action, with broadcaster Network 10 opting to show the game behind a paywall on its streaming affiliate Paramount Plus.

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The broadcaster is hoping to driver new subscribers to the streaming service, with subscriptions starting from $6.99 per month.

The ‘Sports Industry’ Twitter account wrote on X this week: “Despite the Matildas’ intense popularity and mega ratings since the 2023 World Cup, Paramount ANZ has opted against broadcasting the Matildas v Canada via free-to-air on Channel 10.

“This important preparatory game will only be broadcast live and exclusive on subscription service Paramount.”

The Matildas play Canada in their last game before the Olympics. (Photo by Matt King/Getty Images)

One person replied: “Ridiculous, national team games should be on free to air.”

Another fan said: “I cannot believe Channel 10 decided not to broadcast the Matildas game on TV, even though it is in early morning. Instead Channel 10 decides to screen home shopping programs. Channel 10 claims that home shopping is more important than soccer game.”

A second commented: “Anti siphoning laws need fixing. All men’s and women’s internationals in Rugby league, rugby Union, cricket, netball, basketball and soccer/football should be shown live on free to air.

“If no commercial network wants to show it then it MUST be shown on ABC or SBS.”

Another fan said the game going behind a paywall was a reality of the increasingly fragmented world of sports broadcasting.

“Reality is they’re trying to sell subscriptions to Paramount +. Hard to do unless they have some exclusive content people might actually pay for,” they wrote.

The world of sports broadcasting is getting more fragmented. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

Network 10 holds the rights to all Socceroos and Matildas games, and the broadcaster has chosen to put some of them on Paramount Plus.

Last month, Robbie Slater slammed the move to put the Socceroos’ World Cup qualifier against Bangladesh on Paramount Plus instead of free-to-air.

“Very disappointing the Socceroos WCQ vs Bangladesh is not on FTA — needs an explanation by Football AUS as to why this has been allowed to happen?” he wrote on X.

Other fans suggested the network could have used one of its free-to-air channels, which include the main 10 channel, plus 10 Peach and 10 Bold.

The Tillies have an army of supporters. (Photo by Matt King/Getty Images)

Fans can rest assured the Matildas games at the Olympics will undoubtedly be shown on free-to-air television.

Channel 9 is Australia’s broadcaster for the Olympics, with many events and matches to be streamed via 9Now and StanSport.

The Matildas broke all sorts of Australian TV viewership records during their run to the semi-finals at last year’s Women’s FIFA World Cup on home soil.

Their heartbreaking semi-final loss to England was watched by more than seven million Australians on Channel 7.

The Seven Network’s “reach figure” hit as many as 11.15 million viewers, making it the highest rating television program by that metric since OzTAM records have been kept.

Matildas captain Steph Catley and head coach Tony Gustavsson are pumped for the Olympics. (Photo by Matt King/Getty Images)

The Matildas’ Olympic Games campaign starts on July 26 (AEST) against Germany in Marseille and even without the injured Sam Kerr, they are hopeful of claiming a maiden Olympic medal.

Finishing fourth at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup and the Tokyo Olympics three years ago still stings a Matildas squad intent on finishing at least one place higher in France.

Ellie Carpenter has tried to alleviate any potential pressure on the Australians to finish in the top three of a 12-strong tournament featuring most of the world’s best women’s national teams.

“We’re going into this tournament with no expectations,” the 24-year-old right-back said.

“If you look at the teams, were ranked 10th out of the 12.

“We love a little bit of that underdog mindset, but we’re putting no expectations on ourselves. We’re just going to each game wanting to win.

“Our focus is on that first Germany game (July 26 AEST) to hopefully start the tournament off very well and get the three points in the bank, but like the World Cup, we’re going to go out there, do our best and see what happens.”

Matildas captain Steph Catley will miss the game against Canada due to a lower leg injury.

With NCA Newswire

Originally published as Matildas fans dudded by ‘ridiculous’ move ahead of Paris Olympics