Former Matilda Melissa Barbieri has attacked Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and the Australian government over a lack of funding for football.
Responding to reports that Australians could be treated to a public holiday should the Matildas claim World Cup glory on home soil, Barbieri raised the issue of wages for coaches and players in the men’s and women’s A-Leagues.
“Albanese keeps talking about this freaking public holiday – how about you just f***king fund our sport properly,” Barbieri wrote on Twitter.
“35 weeks to play ALeague for a minimum $25k for a female which most are on is not ok.
“Coaches on min (wage) .. worse if you’re female… worse if you need food or petrol.”
The veteran goalkeeper, who was capped 86 times for Australia, was last month awarded the Alex Tobin medal for her contribution to Australian football.
MATILDAS ROCKET INTO WORLD CUP CONTENTION
Julian Linden
Written off as long shots before the tournament began, the Matildas have rocketed into genuine World Cup contenders with a reminder to their rivals they haven’t peaked yet.
Already through to the quarter-finals and improving leaps and bounds with every match they play, the return of superstar Sam Kerr has convinced the naysayers that anything is possible.
Mary Fowler, the team’s blossoming young attacker, has always been a believer and has no doubt the best is yet to come as the team prepares for Saturday’s showdown with France in Brisbane.
“I think every game we can do better,” she said.
“I think the most important thing for us is winning our battles and I think that‘s what we’ve done so far.
“Even when we‘re not playing maybe the most prettiest football, we’re still working hard for each other.”
It’s that old-fashioned Aussie mindset – of everyone pitching in and working for their mates – that has suddenly got everyone thinking the Matildas can go all the way.
But it’s not just one-eyed Aussie fans starting to believe, even the number-crunching geeks are now seeing green and gold flashing up on their screens.
Global sports data giant Gracenote has run over 1 million simulations through its computer systems to try and predict the winner — and the forecasts are wild.
The shock results so far have already made this the most open women’s World Cup ever, with only one previous champion (Japan) still standing among the eight surviving teams, meaning teams like Australia are right in the mix.
“The surprise early eliminations of the world‘s top two ranked teams, USA and Germany have opened up World Cup 2023 for other teams who have never won the competition or even reached the final before,” Gracenote’s head of analysis Simon Gleave said.
“Australia‘s home advantage has now boosted the Matildas to the third most likely team to win the competition and marginal favouritism against France in the quarter-finals.“
England are the computer’s top pick after surviving a penalty shootout against Nigeria to reach the quarter-finals and would play the Matildas in a blockbuster semi if both teams advance.
“It‘s actually really nice to see some teams that you probably wouldn’t have expected to get this far,” Fowler said.
“It just shows the growth women‘s football is having and the level that’s improving. So I think it’s been quite refreshing to see.”
Matildas’ midfielder Katrina Gorry said the unpredictable nature of the tournament was proof the sport’s old word order was being tipped on its head.
“Football‘s developed so much in so many different countries and I don’t think there’s a top ten anymore,” she said.
“It‘s going so much further beyond that. And I think this World Cup has really shown that any country that steps out there can take it to any team.
“It‘s pretty scary what’s going to happen definitely to the top ten ranking and moving forward to the next few games. Watching some of it is definitely crazy.”
While the return of Kerr – who missed the pool phase because of a calf injury – has given the Matildas a huge lift, experienced midfielder Emily van Egmond said the real strength of the side was that so many women were contributing to the cause.
With Kerr still cooling her heels on the bench before her late cameo, the Matildas sealed a convincing 2-0 win over Denmark on Monday after Fowler set up speedy winger Caitlin Foord for a spectacular opener.
“Caitlin’s an absolute weapon, she’s shown that for many years,” van Egmond said.
“I think right now she‘s in fine form. She’s killing it out there and I couldn’t be prouder as a teammate and a close friend.
“We can take this form from every single player out there at the moment and hopefully put that together for a complete performance in the next round.”
SIGHT FOR SORE EYES: SIMON RETURNS TO TRAINING
Erin Smith
Sam Kerr was among the players taking part in a light training session at QSAC on Wednesday while the 11 others took part in a recovery session.
The on field session was for the 12 players who played the least amount of minutes against Denmark on Monday night.
With the quarter final clash against France on Saturday players were only doing a light session today.
In promising signs Kerr started the session with her boots on- showing off her multi sports skills with some basketball and AFL techniques with a football.
Kyah Simon, yet to play any minutes, was also training with her boots on with the main squad.
In the first 15 minutes, that media were able to observe, the players completed a range of static and dynamic stretches.
NIGERIA EXPOSE WORLD CUP INEQUALITY
Nigeria’s women’s football team fresh from an impressive run to the last 16 of the World Cup are demanding, with the support of FIFPRO, that their national federation “honour their commitments” and pay them outstanding bonuses and expenses.
The Super Falcons resumed their battle with the federation after they bowed out of the World Cup losing on penalties to European champions England on Monday.
Their build-up to this year’s tournament was overshadowed by a row with their national federation over bonuses.
They had even threatened to boycott their opening game but put that behind them to draw with Olympic champions Canada and then beat co-hosts Australia.
Coach Randy Waldrum lashed out at the national football association before the tournament, claiming years of wages had gone unpaid to players and himself.
He told the On the Whistle podcast: “What keeps me going are the players. Otherwise, I would have quit this job long ago.
“Up until about three weeks ago, I had been owed about 14 months’ salary. And then they paid seven months’ salary. We still have players that haven’t been paid since two years ago, when we played the summer series in the USA. It’s a travesty.”
After their exit, Nigeria attacker Ifeoma Onumonu revealed the team has no gym in their training camp in Nigeria and players sometimes have to ‘share beds’.
“I’ve seen what (resources) England have access to,” said the forward, per the Guardian.
“In Nigeria we don’t have access to much. Our training fields aren’t great. Where we sleep isn’t great. Sometimes we share beds.
“It’s not good enough. In terms of recovery, we don’t have much of any of that. We don’t have access to a gym in camp in Nigeria.
“There’s a lot that needs to be done. Hopefully more people start to talk about it. Coming here it’s hard to adjust. We do what we can because we love playing for our country but hopefully they make it easier for us to do our best.”
She added: “[Back home] the [pitches] aren’t great. The grass is rocky, bumps everywhere. The stadium we play on for qualifying – you’d be surprised. I was surprised. You don’t even know where the ball is going to jump at you.
“Our under‑20s went far in their World Cup and when they were sent home they were sleeping in airports for 24 hours. That’s not acceptable. What we have to fight for is bigger for us.”
However, on Tuesday the team and FIFPRO — who represent professional footballers — released a statement saying the matter was far from over.
“FIFPRO can confirm it is assisting players in a disagreement with the Nigeria Football Federation concerning bonus payments, camp allowances and expenses, some of which date back to 2021.
“During the World Cup, the players expressed the desire to remain focused on their performance without making public statements or facing other distractions.
“However, the Super Falcons believe that it is now time for the Nigeria Football Federation to honour their commitments and pay the outstanding amounts.” Nigeria have appeared at every Women’s World Cup going back to the inaugural edition in 1991, but the 2023 vintage said they found it “regrettable” they needed to confront their federation.
“The team is extremely frustrated that they have had to pursue the Nigeria Football Federation for these payments before and during the tournament and may have to continue doing so afterwards,” read the statement.
“It is regrettable that players needed to challenge their own federation at such an important time in their careers.
“FIFPRO will continue to work with the players to ensure their contractual rights are honoured and the outstanding payments are settled.”