‘Unimaginable’: Female trailblazers inspire a new generation
Former Matildas Heather Garriock and Amy Duggan played for Australia at a time when having a child would end a professional athlete’s career and there were few, if any, female change rooms.
Ms Duggan, who was still a teenager when she first debuted for the Matildas in 1999, didn’t even know a women’s national team existed and the prospect of a woman appearing on television to talk about football was unheard of when she was a child. Ms Garriock, who played 130 games for the Matildas over 12 years, was the only girl playing soccer in her area when she began at five years old.
Aspiring Matildas Alexis Hudson, 13, Zola Gazy, 13, Chloe Downes, 13, and Harriet Grigg, 14, will be cheering Australia on during the Women’s World Cup. Oscar Colman
A FIFA Women’s World Cup on home soil is a dream come true for the pair, who form part of Optus Sport’s FIFA Women’s World Cup commentary team and are board directors of Football Australia. The pair have been given the chance of a lifetime: to showcase the Matildas and other international soccer teams to an aspiring generation of young female players.
“To have a World Cup on home soil was unimaginable as a child,” Ms Duggan told AFR Weekend. “Football was just for fun, and it’s ended up taking me on the most remarkable journey where I get to combine my two passions – talking and football.”
The World Cup, which kicks off on Thursday in Australia and New Zealand, is expected to be the largest standalone women’s sporting event in history. More than 60,000 international visitors are expected to attend and over 1.1 million tickets have already been sold.
It’s a feat Ms Garriock believes would not have happened without female representation of the board of Football Australia, and the governing
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