Mumbrella360: The Matildas ‘disrupted the thing that they were told was the measure of success’
As the Australian women’s football team gears up to challenge for gold at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, a former Matilda has reflected on what has been an incredible few years for the code.
Appearing at Mumbrella360 last week, Sarah Walsh, who retired in 2012 and now works as Football Australia’s head of women’s football, was asked what her proudest moment was, which unsurprisingly was the success of the Matildas World Cup campaign in 2023.
Australia’s heartbreaking semi-final loss to England drew just shy of 4.5 million eyeballs on local TV screens, while research also found that the game was watched by 64% of the entire population.
Walsh, also a self-confessed fan of NRL and AFL, noted the TV ratings trumped both codes which largely dominate Australian sport, which she said “set the benchmark”.
“Ever since I’d been in sport, I had always been told… women’s sport just won’t receive the investment that it’s after until it gets the eyeballs. Which is a bit of a flawed argument, right? Men’s sport have the eyeballs, they’ve been about a hundred years in there, so, we were really disrupting the whole sporting ecosystem.
“The proudest moment was when we disrupted that. We disrupted the thing that they were told was the measure of success to us. We were redefining what measure of success is.”
The Matildas will look to sweep the nation yet again at Paris in July after they battle China in two friendly matches; first in Adelaide on Friday night and in Sydney on Monday.
To watch this session recording and more from Mumbrella360, head to Mumbrella Pro.
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Neil Griffiths is the editor of Mumbrella. He joined the company in October 2023.
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