Sports Minister Kate Ellis confirmed that two payments of $16m will be made to the FFA over the next four years, upon certain conditions being successfully met. These conditions being that the FFA establish a football league for women and that the league be televised.

You thought that was big? ohh no. On Monday, the FFA and Westfield announced an agreement in support of women’s football.

The Westfield Group’s support involves women’s football ranging from the Westfield Championship for Girls, the establishment of a new national women’s league known as the Westfield W-League, and the national women’s team to be known as the Westfield Matildas.

The Westfield W-League will comprise teams from each of the seven Australian Hyundai A-League clubs as well as Canberra, and will kick off at the end of October.

What an exciting point this is for Women in this country. Finally they can aspire to play regularly in front of crowds Australia wide and get the recognition they deserve.

Personally i think that this is absolutely massive for not only the Women’s game but Football in this country in generally. If the FFA can negotiate a television deal that will show games on Free-To-Air television, it could have the same effect on women’s sports as Netball did. For those who don’t know, until recently, Netball hadn’t been on the forefront of a lot of peoples minds. However after a FTA deal, people have been watching and flocking to the courts!

I believe the same thing can happen with women’s football. If we can get this onto FTA television, believe me people will watch, sit up and take notice. We will see people coming along to the games and give aspiring footballers a chance to be professionals and earn a decent wage!

However to do this we need to keep the game on FTA channels ABC or SBS. If 7,9 or 10 get a hold of this league we will see its quick demise. The anti-football culture is still rife and if either of the big three FTA channels get a sniff of the game they will do all they can to drive it into the ground with bad commentary and fuked up midnight replays of the games. Trust me it will happen, if you don’t believe me just watch the way channel 7 is going to disgrace the Olyroo coverage a this years Olympics.

At least we will be safe with SBS and ABC. SBS is a renowned football station and will show it to the best of their ability as would the ABC who are owned by the government and would not want to see their millions go to waste.

A landmark point in Women’s football will only work if money is poured in and people like you and me get behind it.

Australia 1 Ghana 0

Just came back from the pub after watching a game that probably symbolises the fact that it was a friendly match, featuring what was effectively an Australian ‘B’ side on the park.

The first half was boring as bat-shit to watch as neither team did particularly anything at all. I was very disappointed with Harry Kewell’s performance. I guess it may be because he was lacking match fitness but he was never really a part of the game and didn’t show what he was capable of at all. It was a very scrappy first period, one where neither team could get a real hold of the proceedings at all.

The match picked up in the second with Mile Sterjovski slotting it within seconds of the restart. Was a very good goal from a player that has been slated by his own coach recently. If it hadn’t been for him getting sent off, id have given him man of the match. As the second half wore on the Aussie began to get a very good hold of the game, with nice pieces of play. Then the unthinkable happened… Pim put on Danny Allsopp…. why oh why is he even in the team selection!!!?? From what i remember he only got one touch of the ball all game! Anyways approx the same time “super”dan came on, the game seemed to switch into Ghana’s favour. I was very impressed with the way the Ghanaians played without many of their star players in the side. They really ripped us in the later part of the game.. had it not been for the fantastic defensive work of the Aussies, Ghana would have surely scored. They probably deserved a draw tonight.

The Aussie defence was fantastic in this game. The whole back line were sturdy and held off the Ghana attack throughout the match. I was impressed by Adam Griffiths and Socceroo Debutant Matthew Spiranovic. They both showed that they could step up when and if the manager needed them. Can’t say the same about Adams brother Joel as he had a very quiet one tonight.

Basically i don’t think that Verbeek learnt anything from this match other than that he has reliable backup in the defensive department. I dont think any of the players stepping into the mid-field or attack impressed at all.

Match Report

 Special Mention to the girls! Australia 2 Canada 1

The Matildas took part in a match against Canada right before the Socceroos. The game finished off 2-1, with Caitllin Munoz the star performer for the aussies, setting up the first and scoring the second. The second was crossed in by 17 year old Elise Perry who also plays for the womens national team in Cricket. Some people are just too good at everything! Fuck! hehe anyway heres some vision of that game. I like giving the womens game a shout out here and there.