Impetus editor Ben Gilby concludes his in depth chat with 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 Down Under. In this second part, we find out about the M.A.S’ links with the domestic W-League clubs, how they view the league for the new season and how they are trying to maintain social links with members during the pandemic.
Whilst the M.A.S. were formed to support the national women’s side, I asked them what their links are to the W-League clubs: “Some of the members of M.A.S. are also involved in active supporter groups for the W-League clubs in their home cities and as a result have formed some relationships/links with some of the players/coaching staff and sometimes these links have been maintained even after that player has left the club. The types of connection vary from group to group depending on how long the group has existed but at a minimum the players and coaching staff are aware of the groups existence and often engage with them over social media as well as after matches. All members of MAS are committed to supporting the W-League as a whole and are deeply invested in it and at various times, when the fixtures allow it, will attend matches not involving their team as a way of showing support for the players. Some of the more established supporter groups have had players attend supporter organised functions (e.g. season launches) as well.”
The number of Matildas stars playing in Europe – especially England – has this year moved from being a trickle to almost a deluge, leaving the domestic W-League without the majority of the national side. I asked the group their opinion on this: “As much as we love seeing our Tillies playing here at home, the benefits for our girls playing overseas are limitless. Playing against the world’s best teams and players is only going to help improve their skills and game play, which in turn is going to help the Matildas grow and fulfill their potential. It’s really promising to see our girls going to big clubs and getting game time as well.”
Indeed, the group see only positives ahead for the W-League when it starts again at the end of December, despite virtually all of the Matildas now playing overseas: “It’s a really exciting season ahead for the W-League – we’re super positive about the opportunity this provides for Football Federation Australia (FFA) to rethink how we organise our domestic league. We love our W-League but there is plenty of room to grow/improve. W-League fans have been frustrated by the current state of the league – we don’t have a full home and away season yet, teams play at many different grounds and broadcasting can be hit and miss both of which make it hard to bring fans together and grow active support. The combination of the Matildas regulars playing overseas and not in “the Dub” (W-League) and the looming 2023 home World Cup presents an amazing opportunity to rethink our league – the FFA has been working on plans for this so we are excited to see where it goes in future.”
The M.A.S. also believe it could be hugely beneficial to the next generation of Matildas players: “With all the Matildas heading overseas there is also a big opportunity for clubs to bring through young National Premier League (NPL) players and really give the next generation of talent a chance. (The NPL is a state based competition – we don’t have promotion/relegation as yet in Australia). COVID-19 has also had some impact – the season will start much later than it normally would and, in the state of Victoria no NPL was played, so it will be interesting to see what the Melbourne teams in particular do with players lacking match fitness and game time to develop. With the FAWSL poaching all the top players Melbourne City might be not be so dominant anymore!”
With the social side of the M.A.S. being such a major part of what they do, I wondered what the group have been up to since the Coronavirus outbreak? “Lots and lots of video chats. It would be hard to catch up regardless of the pandemic as we are all spread out across the country so video chats are the norm for us really. We had a really fun interaction when one of national TV broadcasters showed ‘Bend it Like Beckham’ – M.A.S. promoted a “watch along” event with the fan community using Twitter to discuss the movie using #MASBendsIt. The film’s Director, Gurinder Chadha, even ended up joining the fun and is keen to do something similar with us in future! (https://twitter.com/GurinderC/status/1251129419588141063)
We’ve also been watching replays of Matildas matches which have been good to interact with people on Twitter in particular during games.”
We closed our discussion by looking ahead to the future – both for the Matildas team and the Matildas Active Support: “For the Matildas it’s a very exciting period. It’s great to see the women getting over to Europe where there is such a high quality of play. It is only going to benefit the girls to be playing week in week out in multiple competitions with the world’s best players. With the recent appointment of our new manager, Tony Gustavsson, there is a real sense of excitement around the squad, with his tactical prowess especially very intriguing. The next few years are looking very promising for our Tillies!”
“In terms of the road ahead for M.A.S., a lot of our attention in the near future is obviously centered around the 2023 Women’s World Cup. We are looking at ways to provide an amazing fan experience to everyone that travels down under and how we can work closely with our friends across the ditch in New Zealand. M.A.S. is also developing projects and plans to improve gender equality in football and cement ourselves as a leading fan voice for the Matildas. It is a big period of change and growth for Matildas Active Support, and one we are extremely excited for.”
The Matildas Active Support can be found on Facebook – @MatildasActive and Twitter – @Matildasactive.
Missed Part One of this feature? Click here to read it: (https://impetus885775742.wordpress.com/2020/10/15/waltzing-with-the-matildas/)
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