The ratings will show that once again women’s football has outstripped any code of any gender …. The Matilda’s have an entire nation behind them. I was exhausted and relieved as a spectator a long way from the ground, and I hope every single one of them can rest easy in the knowledge they did themselves proud. My thoughts went to all the trail blazer’s the women who had gone before them, the girls who had started playing with a round ball long before there was a crowd cheering them on, the mums and dads and coaches who kept turning up for them.
This is how you grow a movement. The lessons are all there. Well organised, a game plan, training, training, training, and an indomitable spirit about what it means to get a result. In sport there are winners and losers – and that might even take you to a penalty shootout – when there is only you, a ball, a net, and a defender. The roar, or absence of a roar, won’t hold you. You will be held by your breath, your ability to be centred and still and your ability to back yourself knowing all the ones who have come before you have enabled you to be present at that moment in time.
None of us meet any quest on our own, we all walk in the footsteps of others, and it is our job to go a step further to make the path for the next generation. This group of women and their coaches and families have created a generational shift on the field and as a mindset. I remember when they couldn’t get a sponsor, were calendar girls, brokered a financial deal as a union – they have paved the way on and off the field.
There are so many history making opportunities in our country at the moment, all building on the foundations of the past, and all resting of the shoulders of the ones showing up now in the present. Twelve years ago when those early players posed nude to raise money for their Olympic campaign and get the brand Matilda’s out there I was so upset that they had to go to those lengths to get noticed and supported. I bought a calendar and never took it out of its package because I wanted to contribute to the team.
Screaming my head off at the team and holding my breath in the quarter final against France I shed a tear for all those women who went before. This is the mycelium of sport. The work that happens above and below the ground showing us all what is possible with tenacity, courage, and effort. My interest, or lack of interest, in sport is well known, but I am always a fan of teamwork, leadership, entrepreneurial endeavours and movement building. The Matilda’s have done all of that. They have an entire nation dripping in green and gold.
There were young boys, men, girls, women, and people of all ages sitting around me in a school hall watching on a giant screen see their national team go to the next level last night. I doubt anyone could imagine them not being celebrated for their sporting prowess, physical and mental toughness, and their extraordinary teamwork. Excellence is always inspiring, hard work always impressive and dreams coming true, always enthralling.
The lessons of the Matilda’s are the same lessons I see in the leadership of the Yes campaign and once the World Cup is over, I hope a nation united, will pour itself into the referendum. #tilitsdone
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