The 2023 Matildas will be remembered as the game changers

The success of the 2023 Women’s World Cup and the Matildas has not only transcended sport but created great hopes for the Australian team at next year’s Paris Olympics.

Hayley Raso celebrates with Sam Kerr during the Women’s World Cup.Credit: Edwina Pickles

The Matildas’ performance, coupled with the huge interest in the FIFA Women’s World Cup, demonstrates – decades after the Sydney Olympics and ahead of the 2032 Brisbane Olympics – that Australia can successfully host major international sporting events. This is quite an achievement and a much-needed boost for our global reputation, given Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews’ shock cancellation of the 2026 Commonwealth Games generated damaging headlines worldwide.

Two great international sporting moments helped change Australia’s sense of self. The first, the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, came after years of austerity following WWII generated unprecedented awareness of both Australia and our sporting prowess, and ushered us into the global community. And now the staging of the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, and the goodwill showered on the Matildas, have proved a litmus test for social and cultural issues and attitudes that shifted the sport in Australia into the mainstream big-time.

It is hard to imagine Australia’s finest footballers sewing their own Australian crests onto their team tracksuits. But in 1988, when the Matildas arrived at their first world tournament, that is indeed what they did. Twelve years later they would bare all in a nude calendar to raise money to fund their program.

Hard, too, to imagine footballers daring to publicly challenge the federal government’s lack of support for their sport at a climactic moment. Nevertheless, Matildas captain Sam Kerr fearlessly called for more money to help develop grassroots soccer after the team’s historic semi-final appearance against England. Amid outpourings of unprecedented support for women’s football, the Albanese government soon pledged $200 million to improve women’s sporting facilities and equipment.

The growing affection for the Matildas among the wider Australian public is reflected in viewing and attendance figures. The team rewrote the ratings book: the grounds were sell-outs and their match against England was the most-watched in Australian television history – an astounding 11.15 million tuned in with an average audience of 7.13 million.

The Matildas’ audience easily surpassed previous benchmark events such as the 2003 men’s Rugby World Cup final, which attracted an average audience of about 4 million. More than 8 million people watched Cathy Freeman win gold at the 2000 Olympics under the previous ratings scheme. And even when the gold had rubbed off, nearly 3 million watched them go down to Sweden in the third-place play-off in Brisbane on Saturday night.

Clearly, the Matildas’ physical and mental strengths have been an inspiration for many Australians to rethink old attitudes, and their success has raised great expectations for the Paris Olympics.

But Australia’s path in qualifying for the Olympics is fraught. The Matildas finished fourth at Tokyo in 2021, the best achievement from four appearances at the Olympics. There are plenty of talented Asian teams in the competition, and if the Matildas manage to progress through the qualifier round starting in October, they will meet winners from the other Asian groups next February. Despite the good form in the World Cup, there are no guarantees that Australia will be one of the two nations to represent Asia in the 12-team 2024 Olympic women’s football tournament.

But that is the future. Just now, there is much to celebrate. The Matildas put themselves and their country on the football map internationally while at home they changed attitudes to their game that, even a month ago, few saw coming. No small achievements. The team gives new meaning to the phrase “the Matilda effect”.

Bevan Shields sends an exclusive newsletter to subscribers each week. Sign up to receive his Note from the Editor.