Impetus editor Ben Gilby spoke in depth to the Matildas Active Support group about their incredible support of Australia’s national women’s team as well as looking more widely at women’s game in Down Under and how they are formulating plans to welcome the world to Australia and New Zealand in 2023 for the next Women’s World Cup. In this first of two parts, we find out how the group was formed, their experiences at the 2019 World Cup and what the 2023 World Cup may have in store.
Matildas Active Support (M.A.S.) came together before the 2019 World Cup when a Facebook group was set up for fans travelling to support Australia in France. It brought together fans from various W-League (Australia’s domestic league) clubs. From here, the M.A.S. then began to create the first inklings of Matildas Active Support with fans from all over Australia coming up with ideas for songs, banners and t-shirts. The Matildas played a couple of friendlies in Sydney and Brisbane in the lead up to the World Cup, allowing Matildas Active Support (MAS) to ‘test the waters’ a bit but it was really in France that the group was born as passionate fans were able to come together and make noise for our team.
As the group stated at the very start, “Matildas Active Support was formed to support the Matildas in an active, positive and inclusive manner, ensuring our women get the vocal support they deserve and providing spaces for fans to connect pre/post-match to enjoy the whole game day experience.”
I asked the M.A.S. to describe a typical Matildas home game experience for the group: “As with most Aussie sporting events it generally starts at the local pub. We organise a pre-match pub close to the ground which gives us all a chance to relax a bit before the match begins. It’s a good chance for all fans to get together and really hype up for the game. This is usually followed by a march to the stadium where we generally have an allocated active supporters bay behind the goals. We spend the match singing and trying to get the rest of the crowd making noise for the team! We even have had some ex-Matildas come and join us for a song or two! Post match we hang around to support the team as they do their usual meet and greet – the players are so amazing at taking time to meet fans – then it’s back to the pub for more drinks and match debriefs!”
The 2019 World Cup may have been played around 10,000 miles away from Australia, but it was evident the sheer volume (in both number and loudness) of support from the Matildas in France. For the M.A.S. it was a never to be forgotten experience: “How do you put into words the feeling you get being on the other side of the world watching your national women play in a World Cup surrounded by our Aussie football family? It was absolutely surreal. The atmosphere on game day was electric. The Matildas fans would all meet at one of the local pubs for pre-game drinks and banter. We would be chanting and getting hyped for the game ahead, followed by our march to the stadium which was just fantastic – a massive contingent of loud Aussies heading into battle in the stands. It was a truly special experience being in France and it is where really we began. A lot of the M.A.S. community met in France and now we are all such good friends and working towards building the support for the Matildas and the women’s game.”
Here in the UK it is not fully appreciated just what a big deal nationally The Matildas are compared to the majority of the European women’s national sides. I asked the M.A.S. to explain just how loved the team are in Australia: “The makeup of the crowd at a Matildas game gives a good demonstration of how special the Matildas are. You won’t just see children and families, but also retirees, teenagers, young adults and supporters from all sections of Australian society. The Matildas are Australia’s team. For a few years running the Matildas have been named Australia’s most beloved sporting team in the Benchmark EC Ladder – an independent survey which assesses the emotional connection fans have with their teams – ahead of the national men’s rugby league, rugby union and cricket sides.” That stat alone shows just how important the Matildas are – Rugby League, Cricket and Australian Rules Football hog the newspaper sports pages and TV bulletins, but there is something about this particular women’s football team that see them trump even those sports.
The M.A.S. went onto highlight how the popularity of the Matildas first became so apparent: “It became really clear how special this team is to Aussies in 2017 when the Matildas played Brazil in Sydney, selling out a 15,000 seat stadium (on a weekend where both Rugby League and Australian Rules Football were playing finals) for a FRIENDLY where previously they were playing to much smaller crowds. Australia’s Queen of Women’s Soccer, Ann Odong, nailed it when she said “As Advance Australia Fair rang out with over 15,000 supporters in attendance, it felt like the Westfield Matildas had finally arrived – like women’s football in Australia had finally arrived” (link to https://www.matildas.com.au/news/day-westfield-matildas-finally-arrived). Incidentally 17,000 people turned up a few days later in Newcastle (on a Tuesday night!) to support the women yet again…”
The huge growth in crowds to watch The Matildas has been spurred further by the recent announcement that the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup will be co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand. I asked the Matildas Active Support how they responded to the announcement: “There was a lot of cheering, screaming and tears of joy for us. We’re all spread out across the country so at an ungodly hour of the night/morning we all jumped onto a zoom call together and watched the announcement. We were all so nervous and excited and, it must be said, quietly confident that we would get over the line but when it became official we all just got so overwhelmed and there was a sense of “Did that really just happen? Are we hosting the Women’s World Cup?”After that it was a lot of tears and virtual hugging and then straight down to business to start planning.”
Not surprisingly the M.A.S. already have plans afoot to welcome the world of women’s football fans to their nation in three years time: “Prior to the official announcement we had already started working on plans should we win the bid. The week following the announcement we released a fans welcome to Australia/New Zealand on our social media. We have a timeline for what we want to put in place and over the next few years, but I won’t give any spoilers except to say we want to make sure visiting fans have the best Cup ever so get in touch with us!”
Next week: The M.A.S. give their opinion of the state of the W-League and how they see the all important next three years going for The Matildas.
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