RAISING HER GAME

FUTURE GENERATIONS ARE LIKELY TO REMEMBER 2023 AS A TURNING POINT FOR WOMEN'S FOOTBALL 

- KARTHIK RAVINDRANATH

Welcome to the jungle, Lionesses... The Daily Telegraph (Sydney) wrote thisAugust, leaking photos of the England women’s football team training. The Lionesses were preparing to take on the Australian Matildas in the semifinals of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup. The newspaper had used a helicopter to shoot the photos, considering the interest at home around the match, and perhaps hoping that filming the tactical setup could give the beloved Matildas some advantage.

It did not. Australia, ranked tenth, lost 3-1 to European champions England (ranked fourth), and finished fourth in the World Cup after losing to third-ranked Sweden in the third-place match. It was the best ever showing by an Australian soccer team at senior level and it prompted the government to pledge A$200 million (around 01,100 crore) to improve women’s sporting facilities. More significantly, the women’s team was the most in-demand sporting entity in the sports-obsessed nation in the buildup to the semifinal match.

Their matches broke viewership records and the semifinal turned out to be the most watched TV programme in the country. The research firm OzTAM said it had a peak viewership of 11.15 million. The Seven Network delayed its main news bulletin to show the match, and the men’s Australian rules football league screened it at the stadium before a derby match. In the days before the match, women’s jerseys outsold the men’s kits two to one.

Things, however, were different   a while ago. There was a time when the women players had to create and hand out flyers to attract spectators. They even had to beg TV stations to telecast their matches.