Key PointsThe first female footballers to represent Australia and New Zealand contested the Women’s Asian Cup in 1975.Over the weekend, the players came out of retirement for a friendly rematch to mark the Women’s World Cup.The Australian players have been fighting for decades to be formally recognised as the first Matildas.
It’s a rematch nearly half a century in the making.
The trailblazing teams from Australia and New Zealand, who contested the inaugural women’s Asian Cup in Hong Kong in 1975, are out of retirement.
The first female players to represent the countries in international football took to the pitch this weekend for a friendly to
.
They may have lost some speed and agility compared to past performances, but they made up for it with their passion and pride.
With the stunning view of the Sydney Harbour Bridge behind them, the former players returned to the field – but this time it was a game of ‘walking football’.
Kathy Hall, from New Zealand’s 1975 national team, said the women are no strangers to hard knocks.
“They got a bit rough, you get shopped down at the end, or trip over the ball,” she said.
The result was a goalless draw, but today wasn’t about winning, with players celebrating friendship and camaraderie over 48 years.
The
has changed dramatically since these trailblazers first represented their countries.
In 1975, investment in the sport was near zero, and players had to pay their own way to represent their countries internationally.
Australia’s captain of the 1975 national team, Pat O’Connor, said the team did whatever they could to pay for the trip to Hong Kong.
“Walkathons, soccer-thons, you name it we did. We cleaned cars, we sold t-shirts at the men’s games, they allowed us to do that,” she said.
“Anything we could think of to raise the money, and we made it.”
O’Connor said playing in that tournament was a feeling she will never forget.
“And in those days, it wasn’t so popular, so to get this opportunity to go to play in the first Asian Cup, you know this was a dream for us,” she said.
“So then being allowed to wear the actual national uniform, the same as the Socceroos wore in that time, and to walk out on the field in these colours … you’d have to experience it to know how it feels.”
It has been a long road for women in football since then, with this year’s Women’s World Cup representing further progress.
Aunty Tarita, the sole Indigenous player on Australia’s 1975 team, says she is happy to see there has been improvement not only in financial investment in the sport but also in diversity and representation.
“You know, there was no recognition until there was us. There was no recognition,” she said.
“And when I say us, I’m the only Aboriginal there … and now we’ve got Latvian, South African, Dutch, English, oh we’ve got them all.
“And that’s who we are, that’s Australia now.”
Despite their pioneering performances in the green and gold, this first Australian women’s football team has had to fight for almost five decades to get formal recognition.
The players are all from New South Wales, but were given permission from the governing body to wear the national coat of arms.
They were acknowledged by Football Australia in May – but they’re still not considered fully-fledged Matildas.
Today though, there is no denying their role in sporting history.
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