She’s the oldest player in history. How this former Tillies captain does it at 44

While the Tillies fever that swept the nation last year inspired a generation of mini Kerrs and Catleys, it also saw another generation swept up in its wake: women in their 30s and 40s. It’s something Australian goalkeeper and former Matildas captain Melissa Barbieri – or “Bubs”, as she likes to be known – saw first-hand.

“A huge amount of people [approached me], mainly those who were stopped from playing, were embarrassed to play or had to go to school so they stopped playing, and the World Cup really inspired them to start again,” says Barbieri, who has been playing for Melbourne City in the A-League women’s division since 2017.

“They were pretty upset with themselves that they allowed that to happen. And I’d say, ‘Well, that’s just evolution, isn’t it? There are more places for you now’.”

Melissa Barbieri says her passion for the game is what motivates her to keep going.

At 44, Barbieri is a veteran of the game, an anomaly in a sport where the median age of retirement for professional female footballers is 26 (the median is slightly older for goalkeepers, the position she plays). As well as holding the title for being the oldest player in history in Australia’s professional football leagues, she holds the record for the longest-serving national league player, with 27 years under her belt.

To put that into numbers: that’s four world cups, one Olympic Games (Athens 2004, as the captain of the Matildas) and 86 caps internationally. If you consider the fact she’s been playing since she was eight, that’s a staggering amount of half-times, handshakes and saves.

But Barbieri is characteristically chill when asked about the secret to her longevity, citing motivation as king.

“My passion for the game, the way it challenges me, so I’m never bored. The game is always evolving, and you’re always learning ... having that feeling every day after training, like, ‘Oh, I missed that shot, I missed that pass’, I want to get better that next day.”

“I know when that leaves it’s time to go.”

Still, passion alone can’t heal a torn ACL or hamstring. Barbieri attributes a high pain tolerance, an ability to recover quickly from injuries and a diligent, holistic approach to training to her physical resilience.

“I do all the rehab, even with my fingers, the most mundane things because you want to be able to keep going as long as you can.”

While it’s more common to see professional athletes in their 30s and 40s in endurance sports such as long-distance running, Associate Professor Clare Minahan of Griffith Sports Science at Griffith University says the physically intensive nature of soccer at a professional level – as well as existing structural barriers for women – means only so much is possible.

Barbieri is speaking to this masthead from Perth, where she’s partnered with Ninja as presenting partner of the inaugural Perth International Football Cup. The competition brings players from Manchester City, West Ham, Leicester City, and Paris Saint-Germain – among them Matildas superstars Mary Fowler and Katrina Gorry – to the city as part of a bid to boost support and visibility for women’s sport in the region.

Barbieri, who had to fight tooth and nail to build a professional career in football, would be forgiven for feeling bittersweet over the recent success of the Matildas. But she says she’s proud to have seen women’s football get to where it is today, and to be able to continue to grow with the game.

How to start playing football in your 30s and 40s

• Start slow. Associate Professor Clare Minahan of Griffith Sports Science says ligamentous injuries are common for women in their 30s and 40s, particularly those who have not been active until that point. “One of the things we need to encourage is that muscles adapt a lot more quickly than ligaments do,” she says. “And so we’ve got to give time for the body to respond and adapt and get back into some of that training more gradually so we’re prepared for a game like football.”
• Don’t be afraid to advocate for yourself. Melissa Barbieri says it’s important to talk to your local club and “make sure they realise they need access points for everybody. So you can’t just have the elite [athletes], you have to have community of older teams, younger teams and social teams … because that’s how we keep everybody in our game longer.”

In 2013, Barbieri had her daughter Holly, now 11, before deciding to step back from the league in 2015 due to a lack of maternity support.

“She couldn’t come with me … if she were to come with me, she would have had to have a separate hotel, separate people looking after her. Nothing was covered.”

“I just thought it was too hard to do it again. Even though I thought I could continue, there was that real moment of, I just missed her too much.”

Today, support for mothers is improving. The recent Paris Olympics, for instance, saw the inclusion of the first village nursery.

“If there were the packages they have now, I wouldn’t have needed to make that decision,” she says.

“I would have made it based off how I was feeling athletically rather than an outside choice. You kind of had your hand forced.”

“But it also gives me a great sense of pride and satisfaction that I can see Katrina Gorry and Tameka Yallop with their children in the team room and on flights 100 per cent of the time.”

Melissa Barbieri playing for Melbourne City earlier this year.Credit: Getty Images

Research into women’s bodies in sport – particularly into how female hormones and periods affect performance – is still in its nascency.

“Once we better understand the role of the menstrual cycle in female performance, it will help to manage or minimise injury, but most importantly it will continue to break that performance ceiling.”

Barbieri, who has endometriosis, says the approach to training at Melbourne City is changing, with careful attention paid to players’ sleep, mental wellbeing and cycles.

“There are so many things that we see as a downfall to motherhood, but we don’t see all the things you become in order to do it.”

Melissa Barbieri

And while motherhood may be seen as a barrier to many athletes, Barbieri says it’s made her a better player.

“Once you’ve had a baby, sprints are no big deal. You change your mentality over what is actual pain and what you have to endure.”

“There are so many things that we see as a downfall to motherhood, but we don’t see all the things you become in order to do it.”

She adds that the presence of children on tour makes for a stronger team.

“It’s like having a puppy. It’s really a way of bringing a family closer,” she says.

Her advice for women in middle-age wanting to get into the sport?

“Just start,” she says simply.

“You can find a million reasons not to do anything, but … you’re going to pay 60 bucks a week for a gym membership, it’s a lot cheaper to play football’. You can get up to three sessions a week, plus a game. And you get more people in your circle and there’s the camaraderie.”

The author travelled to Perth as a guest of Ninja.

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