The story of the Matildas officially begins in 1979, but 4 years earlier an unofficial team played in the Women's Asian Championship, a 6 team tournament held in Hong Kong with the Australian XI joining the hosts, Thailand, Malaysia, New Zealand & Singapore. This tournament took place 15 years before the first Fifa World Cup and was probably the building block on which the World Cup would be based.
It took 8 years from 1979 before the women's national side had what you could call real competition. With NZ providing our only matches for a number of years, in '87 Australia had 7 different opponents as they returned to Taipei, scene of the 1978 World Women's Football Tournament, the largest yet played featuring 13 teams, for another large gathering for The Women's Game.
Australia failed to qualify for the inaugural World Cup beaten to it by the Kiwis, but in 1995 Australia beat out NZ & PNG through the Oceania group to make it to the finals in Sweden.
We again qualified for the '99 finals in the US and again finished the group matches with a single point but 4 years later in China, better prepared and better resourced "The Matildas" made it to the knockout stage after a win & 2 draws in their group. Sadly they drew eventual runners up in powerhouse Brazil, going down 3-2 in a thriller to bow out. Australia had however left its mark on the Women's game.
The Matilda's again made the knockout stage in the following 2 finals but in 2010 Women's football in Australia stood tall.
The largest prize to find its way into the Australian trophy cabinet was the 2010 Asian Championship. The 8 team finals series held in China saw Australia finish second behind China in its group thus drawing Japan in the semi where a lone goal by Katie Gill saw Australia through. The final, played in appalling conditions in front of only 1,200 people, saw the game go to penalties with Australia prevailing 5-4.
The feat could not be repeated in 2014 with Australia defeated by World Cup holders Japan in the final in Vietnam, this time before a much healthier crowd of 10,000. The Women's game had arrived and goes from strength to strength right from the GrassRoots through to international level.
It took 8 years from 1979 before the women's national side had what you could call real competition. With NZ providing our only matches for a number of years, in '87 Australia had 7 different opponents as they returned to Taipei, scene of the 1978 World Women's Football Tournament, the largest yet played featuring 13 teams, for another large gathering for The Women's Game.
Australia failed to qualify for the inaugural World Cup beaten to it by the Kiwis, but in 1995 Australia beat out NZ & PNG through the Oceania group to make it to the finals in Sweden.
We again qualified for the '99 finals in the US and again finished the group matches with a single point but 4 years later in China, better prepared and better resourced "The Matildas" made it to the knockout stage after a win & 2 draws in their group. Sadly they drew eventual runners up in powerhouse Brazil, going down 3-2 in a thriller to bow out. Australia had however left its mark on the Women's game.
The Matilda's again made the knockout stage in the following 2 finals but in 2010 Women's football in Australia stood tall.
The largest prize to find its way into the Australian trophy cabinet was the 2010 Asian Championship. The 8 team finals series held in China saw Australia finish second behind China in its group thus drawing Japan in the semi where a lone goal by Katie Gill saw Australia through. The final, played in appalling conditions in front of only 1,200 people, saw the game go to penalties with Australia prevailing 5-4.
The feat could not be repeated in 2014 with Australia defeated by World Cup holders Japan in the final in Vietnam, this time before a much healthier crowd of 10,000. The Women's game had arrived and goes from strength to strength right from the GrassRoots through to international level.
