A VERY SPECIAL DAY IN SPORT -- GO THE MATILDAS

[mrsswordfisherman]

I am quite sure last night most raiders watched the mighty Matildas take on France and win a spot in the semi final. This was a magnificent battle to say the least, a very dramatic penalty shootout. 

Of any sporting event this is the most significant in Australian history.

Women's sport is now on the map well and truly. Those of us with daughters, sisters, wives, grandaughters can be proud that they can play women's sport and have the opportunity to rise to this level. 

I can't wait until Wednesday when the Tildas play England. My grandaughter is named Matilda and her father is British!

Happy Birthday to Katrina Gorry for today - what a day to celebrate for her.  
Look on Disney+ to stream the 6 episode documentary called Matildas: The World at Our Feet. It reveals the sacrifices made and struggles endured to prepare for this World Cup journey. It is well worth the watch!

[Rebel]

HI All.

When we bought the current home we live in some years ago, it had two lounge rooms. Didn't think much of it at the time, but now I am glad we have them.

When my wife found Netflix I bought another TV & moved into the second lounge room.

Last night my wife watched the Soccer & I watched the NRL.

The yelling & the screaming from the other lounge room was unbelievable. I had to put head phones on to drown out the noise.

My wife is going away for a few days. She will be watching the Soccer at a friend's house thank God.

Cheers.

[mrsswordfisherman]

@Rebel I think you have missed the point here. 
This is about womens sport and lifting its profile. It’s about our national pride and never giving up. 
I have not watched too many soccer games really. Recently I found myself watching and enjoying our Australian Matildas team playing and progressing. 
I will be following it now for sure. 

The NRL is getting boring. The only reason I am following it at all is the fishraider tipping comp. By the way I am leading by 5 points 👏👏

GO THE TILDAS 🇦🇺⚽️

(from a proud female Aussie)

 

 

[frankS]

Donna. I am in no way a soccer fan, probably watched 1 maybe 2 games in my whole lifetime.

I watched 5 minutes here and 5 minutes there on and off last night and I watched the final 5 minutes of play and then the penalty shootout . I had no idea how many attemps each side had or anything about it.

But I tell you what, I am a tough old bugger but I don't mind admitting I got just a little choked up when the Matildas landed that final goal to progress to the semi finals.

Frank

[big Neil]

A great write-up about a great Aussie story Donna. Women's soccer is rapidly coming of age and this World Cup has emphasised this point more than ever. Soccer is the true World Game played in almost every country throughout the world. Women's soccer is now professional at the highest level and the Matildas are right up there with the best players in the world. More than that, playing at home (jointly with NZ), the Matildas are going from strength to strength in every game. They have single-handedly taken the country by storm. To emphasise the point I'll relate a couple of little anecdotes.

My neighbours are NOT sports followers at all. Last night they were visiting their son and decided to see what all the hype was about, relating to the Matildas playing France. They watched the entire match and absolutely loved it, especially the final result. They were so taken by the experience that they asked whether they could come and watch the England v Colombia match at my place as they don't have Optus Sport. We sat and scoffed a bottle of quality wine between the 3 of us and watched the game. They even passed comments about the game and genuinely wanted to know more about the game of soccer.

Today I went to a nearby town to sell some of my pottery and the story was the same from numerous people there. People who have never been remotely interested in soccer but are now revved up to watch the Matildas play England in the first World Cup Semi-Final that an Australian soccer team has qualified for. Another mate related that his local had never watched anything other than Rugby League and AFL at the pub till last night when they watched the Matildas. Now they have a special event happening at the pub for the match versus England and the place is booked out.

There will still be some cynics who will not see the significance of the Matilda's success, but world soccer now knows about the courageous Australian girls who have taken the game to a new level. Every one of the Matilda's team will benefit from the exposure which their team displays has demonstrated, both career-wise and financially. Good on them, they deserve it.

bn

[Blackfish]

I’m in WA at the moment and the people I’m with are huge fans of AFL and are mad “D’s” fans. Their game started around the same time as the Matilda’s ended, but with the penalty shootout they couldn’t turn the girls off to watch the start of their beloved game and that’s saying something.

Go Girls

[Rebel]

Everybody likes to jump on the band wagon,when the going is good.

When they fail like Rugby Union, nobody wants to know.

How long has Rugby League been around. Since 1908.

Still the most watched sport.

[Bennyg78]

This has been an iconic moment in sport, period.

The game against France was the most watched sporting event since Cathy Freemans run in the Final at the Sydney Olympics.

The other thing that alot of other codes and sporting teams could learn from the watching the world cup and the matildas. They exemplify what a team is and are great rolemodels.

I look forward to watching the progression in all kids sports they have greatly contributed too.

Go Tillies!

[Rockspinking]

3 hours ago, Rebel said:

Everybody likes to jump on the band wagon,when the going is good.

When they fail like Rugby Union, nobody wants to know.

How long has Rugby League been around. Since 1908.

Still the most watched sport.

Jumping on the band wagon or not it still worth supporting women’s sport. 
Rugby League is a dying sport unless they get some sort of draft system too big of a gap between to and bottom teams.Rugby League will struggle to maintain the huge salaries as it not a world sport.
Why can’t the NRL put the women’s origin on as a curtain raiser for the men’s game? Rather than play it the following night. 

 

[Bennyg78]

1 hour ago, Rockspinking said:

Jumping on the band wagon or not it still worth supporting women’s sport. 
Rugby League is a dying sport unless they get some sort of draft system too big of a gap between to and bottom teams.Rugby League will struggle to maintain the huge salaries as it not a world sport.
Why can’t the NRL put the women’s origin on as a curtain raiser for the men’s game? Rather than play it the following night. 

 

I agree here, even having a 2 game origin series for the women. There should have been a 3 game series like the men

[big Neil]

6 hours ago, Rebel said:

Everybody likes to jump on the band wagon,when the going is good.

When they fail like Rugby Union, nobody wants to know.

How long has Rugby League been around. Since 1908.

Still the most watched sport.

Have to disagree with you Rebel.

People are "jumping on the bandwagon" because of the phenomenal rise in women's World Soccer and, in particular, the Matildas who are punching well above their weight. This has had a massive impact on the public by stimulating the Nation's pride. These players have left these shores and learned their trade alongside other top international players, in the UK and Europe. Each of them is a proud Australian and they have harnessed their combined pride to do what Aussies do best...punch above their weight. That is why the majority of people are ecstatic about their results. That will not wane as the seeds are planted in the minds of young ladies that they can achieve too.

HISTORY   International football was played between England and Scotland in 1872. Indeed Rugby only became a game when players started running with the ball in their hands, whilst supposedly playing Association Football (soccer).

You cannot lay claim to Rugby League being the "most watched" sport either. When the soccer world cup is on, the game is followed by billions of people in the 32 qualifying countries. As of the next soccer world cup in 2026 there will be 48 qualifying nations. There will never be 48 nations even playing rugby league.

So credit where it is due Rebel. The Matildas are doing exceptionally well and the stimulus is there for young Aussies to emulate their success.

Cheers, bn

[mrsswordfisherman]

19 hours ago, Rebel said:

Everybody likes to jump on the band wagon,when the going is good.

When they fail like Rugby Union, nobody wants to know.

How long has Rugby League been around. Since 1908.

Still the most watched sport.

Rugby League has been losing fans for a long time now. 
Player behaviours on and off the field are becoming more extreme and disturbing. 

It is nowhere near the most watched sport. 

Good luck tomorrow to our wonderful Matildas ⚽️🇦🇺

 

[Rebel]

Have a look at some real facts.

Saturday's night game was watched bt 4.7 Million.

Cathy Freeman 2000 Olymics  8.8 Million

State of Orgin  5 Million.

Wimbeldon  7.5 Million.

World Cup Rugby  12.8  Million.

The list goes on.

[Rebel]

There is nothing about lifting Womens Sport.

Womens Sport has been around for years.

If its not publicized you will not hear about it. The same with many other sports that Woman & Men compete in.

Cheers

[Bennyg78]

17 minutes ago, Rebel said:

There is nothing about lifting Womens Sport.

Womens Sport has been around for years.

If its not publicized you will not hear about it. The same with many other sports that Woman & Men compete in.

Cheers

So what you're saying is

• having the worlds best athletes compete in a competition that is selling out stadiums,
• and in fact being put on big screens in other sporting codes,
• hearing of how some of the matildas have come to be in the Australian team,
• watching great examples of what sport is and should be to all people

Doesn't lift the profile of womens sport, what a fascinating and different view point you have there, can't say I agree with you there

I'd also love to know where you get your fact from on viewership this article regarding the amount of people watching has a different viewpoint;

•  https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-08-13/matildas-vs-france-most-watched-television-event-of-2023/102724272

 

[mrsswordfisherman]

35 minutes ago, Rebel said:

Have a look at some real facts.

Saturday's night game was watched bt 4.7 Million.

Cathy Freeman 2000 Olymics  8.8 Million

State of Orgin  5 Million.

Wimbeldon  7.5 Million.

World Cup Rugby  12.8  Million.

The list goes on.

I have no idea where you got those "real facts"??

It has been widely reported on news.com.au, SMH and other publications that the ozTAM ratings revealed that the Matildas' penalty shootout smashed Australian TV ratings records. 
It became the MOST WATCHED EVENT since Cathy Freeman won her gold at the Sydney Olympics!

The Matildas will break their own viewing record tomorrow night no doubt.

Lets get back to the original post intent and wish the Matildas the very best from all of us. 

[JonD]

I must admit Ive never taken any interest in sport on tv, however the Matildas soccer is the first time in my life Ive had the tv on 15 mins before each game and enjoy every minute of it. The sportswomenship among the players is truly inspiring. Like already mentioned this is putting women's sport where it already should be, full respect to the young ladies. 

[big Neil]

Good to have differences of opinion...would be a boring old place if we ALL thought alike. One thing we should all be able to agree on is that the Matildas are an inspiration to us all, irrespective of where we come from and our different sporting preferences. I will definitely be glued to the tv tomorrow night. In fact, I'll be watching the Spain v Sweden game tonight, too.

bn

[Green Hornet]

I wasn’t going to chime in on this as I’m definitely not a soccer fan, but while we’re on the topic of Aussie women kicking butt in sport, why do the Matildas get all the publicity when the Diamonds, the Australian netball team, who have just won their World Cup, got virtually nothing?

Just guessing, but I’d assume just as many girls, if not more play netball in this country than soccer.
 

 

[Bennyg78]

12 minutes ago, Green Hornet said:

I wasn’t going to chime in on this as I’m definitely not a soccer fan, but while we’re on the topic of Aussie women kicking butt in sport, why do the Matildas get all the publicity when the Diamonds, the Australian netball team, who have just won their World Cup, got virtually nothing?

Just guessing, but I’d assume just as many girls, if not more play netball in this country than soccer.
 

 

Definitely agree that in general there needs to be more focus on women in sport. Our family has lots of netballers in it and they were scrambling to find coverage.

One of the reasons I see the Matildas being in the spotlight as its the highest an Australian team has made it in the world cup and there also some factors that come into play such as poor resources previously for girls wanting to play soccer. 

[mrsswordfisherman]

1 hour ago, Bennyg78 said:

Definitely agree that in general there needs to be more focus on women in sport. Our family has lots of netballers in it and they were scrambling to find coverage.

One of the reasons I see the Matildas being in the spotlight as its the highest an Australian team has made it in the world cup and there also some factors that come into play such as poor resources previously for girls wanting to play soccer. 

Agree with womens’ sport needing more coverage. 
I am aware of our netballing Diamonds’ great achievements too @Green Hornet World Cup and Comm Games Gold medallists. Bit hard for fans to get to Cape Town where the cup was played.

Australia is the host country and it’s very easy and affordable ($20 a ticket) for people to attend the games and watch at live sites. The Matildas are winning matches and the general public are showing patriotic interest. 

You can’t go anywhere today without seeing national pride. Every school has events and fun things on for kids today. 

Hope everyone who watches enjoys the game tonight ⚽🇦🇺
 

 

[big Neil]

8 hours ago, mrsswordfisherman said:

Agree with womens’ sport needing more coverage. 
I am aware of our netballing Diamonds’ great achievements too @Green Hornet World Cup and Comm Games Gold medallists. Bit hard for fans to get to Cape Town where the cup was played.

Australia is the host country and it’s very easy and affordable ($20 a ticket) for people to attend the games and watch at live sites. The Matildas are winning matches and the general public are showing patriotic interest. 

You can’t go anywhere today without seeing national pride. Every school has events and fun things on for kids today. 

Hope everyone who watches enjoys the game tonight ⚽🇦🇺
 

 

Well, I enjoyed the match, though not the result. The result was a reality check. England has never qualified for the Women's World Cup Final before, but they have won the last 2 European Championships. These European competitions are (obviously) not available for Australia to play in, so no surprise that 3 of the 4 semi-finalists are European teams. 

What that says to me is that Australia's success has achieved additional credibility...the only non-European team to make the semis. Well done everyone. Once again Australia has shown that it can present these world-class events as well as anybody else can, jointly with New Zealand. Women's sport is the winner.   bn

[mrsswordfisherman]