Can the A-League Women keep the Matildas’ flame alive?

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Image Credit: Melbourne Victory website

In the winter of 2023, the Matildas didn’t just play football, they made history. More than 11.5 million Australians watched their World Cup semi-final against England — the most-viewed TV program in Australian history, according to OzTAM data. Streets filled with fans, fan zones overflowed, and for a fleeting moment, women’s football wasn’t a niche sport, it was the beating heart of the nation.

But now, over a year later, the energy has waned. Despite record participation rates in grassroots football, the A-League Women (ALW) has struggled to capture and sustain the public’s attention.

According to a recent Professional Footballers Australia (PFA) report, only 50% of ALW players are on full-time contracts, and nearly one in five players are considering early retirement due to financial instability.

Melbourne Victory star Beattie Goad announced her retirement at just 27, citing the competition’s part-time nature as unsustainable. She’s a three-cap Matilda and a title-winner with both Melbourne City and Melbourne Victory.

She wasn’t alone. In March 2024, her teammate and seven-time Matilda Emma Checker declared she’d retire at 28 to secure a job outside football. And in October, former Matilda’s great Elise Kellond-Knight also stepped away after 16 years in the game, again, due to financial strain.

These are elite athletes juggling second jobs and uncertain futures in what should be a thriving professional league. For a competition that should be riding a wave of national pride, this is more than disappointing, it’s a structural failure.

While the Matildas ignited the country, the ALW is still fighting for visibility. Despite the Matildas’ extraordinary success, there’s been little impact on league attendance and broadcast numbers. The average ALW crowd size in 2023–24 was just over 2,400 people per game,  a modest increase from previous years, but nowhere near what the World Cup buzz should have fuelled.

Even the launch of the 2024–25 season came with a whimper. The Guardian described it as having a “quiet build-up,” reflecting the broader issue of under-promotion. Where was the media hype, the marketing campaign, the sense of occasion? The stars are there with players such as Cortnee Vine, Michelle Heyman, Alex Chidiac. But without consistent media presence, they remain invisible to casual fans.

Then there’s scheduling. Too many A-League Women matches are tucked away in poor time slots or played in hard-to-access suburban grounds. This isn’t just a football issue; it’s a visibility issue. Fans can’t attend games they don’t know about, or can’t get to. Doubleheaders with men’s games, while well-intentioned, often result in women’s matches playing second fiddle. They deserve standalone stages, not shared spotlights.

And while Football Australia has confirmed a new men’s National Second Tier launching in 2025. There’s no equivalent plan for women, no national second-tier league, no promotion and relegation pathway. The development pipeline for female players ends abruptly at the elite level. That’s not just short-sighted — it’s neglectful.

So, what needs to happen?

Full-time professionalism must become the standard. As the PFA has made clear, a semi-professional structure will only deliver semi-professional outcomes. Better wages, longer contracts, and post-career planning are essential if we want athletes to commit long-term.

Football Australia and the APL must lead with vision. As Football Australia unveils a new national second-tier men’s competition in 2025, the glaring lack of a second-tier pathway for women is striking. How can we build depth without structure?

Media partners and broadcasters must treat the ALW like a premium product. That means storytelling, promotion, and regular prime-time coverage, not burying games on digital-only platforms or at inaccessible hours. ALW matches should be promoted with the same energy and visibility as the men’s games. Tapping into streaming platforms, pre-match content, and post-game analysis can help generate interest beyond the core fan base.

Clubs must step up, not just in funding but in identity. Women’s teams cannot remain side projects or afterthoughts to the men’s program. Equal access to training facilities, medical care, and media teams should be the norm.

And fans must keep showing up. If you cheered for the Matildas, consider turning up for Western United or Melbourne Victory. Bring your kids. Buy the jersey. Follow the league. Push your club to do more. The spark lit by the Matildas can’t burn without fuel. Attending games, engaging online, and demanding better from the institutions that govern football will keep the pressure on.

I saw it for myself—during the World Cup, families with young girls packed into fan zones, strangers high-fived over goals, and jerseys sold out nationwide. That kind of cultural moment doesn’t come around often. We can’t afford to treat it as a blip.

The Matildas lit the fire. Now it’s on the A-League Women — and all of us — to keep it burning.

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The Man Who Built a Women’s Football Program from Nothing is now an Award-Winning Gender Equity Leader

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Image Credit: Football Victoria

Eight years ago, Spring Hills Football Club did not have a girls’ team. Today it has one of the most recognised women’s programs in Melbourne’s west, a senior NPLW side, and a head coach who has just been named Gender Equity Leader of the Year at the Melton City Council Volunteer Achievement Awards.

Tom Markovski, Spring Hills’ NPLW Head Coach, received the award at a ceremony coinciding with National Volunteer Week, recognised for his community leadership, promotion of gender equality and commitment to advancing the status of women and people of all genders in sport. The recognition comes from outside the football community entirely, awarded by a local council celebrating volunteers across every sector of civic life in one of Melbourne’s fastest-growing regions.

Building from scratch

When Markovski arrived at Spring Hills, women’s football at the club did not exist. His first act was to champion the establishment of the club’s first all-girls team, a process that required persuading a club culture built around men’s football that the investment was worth making.

Women’s football in community clubs has historically struggled to access the same facilities, scheduling priority, coaching resources and institutional support as the men’s game. Clubs have been slow to invest in programs whose return is less immediately visible than a senior men’s premiership, and in a growing outer-suburban community like Melton, where volunteer capacity is finite and demand across every program is high, the case for building something new always has to compete with the urgency of maintaining what already exists.

Markovski made the case anyway, and kept making it across eight years of coaching senior and junior NPL teams while simultaneously building the structural foundations of a women’s program designed to outlast any individual’s involvement. The club’s first all-girls team became multiple junior girls teams. Those junior teams created the pipeline for a senior women’s side. The senior women’s side created visible pathways for younger players to see where the game could take them within their own club.

The outcome is a program that Spring Hills now holds up as central to its identity rather than supplementary to it. The club has become a leader in female participation in Melbourne’s west, and recently made history within the NPLW Victoria structure by fielding junior teams coached entirely by female coaches, a milestone that reflects the depth of the program Markovski helped build.

What the Award Recognises

The Melton City Council’s decision to name Markovski its Gender Equity Leader of the Year places his work in a frame that extends beyond football. Melton is one of the fastest-growing local government areas in Australia, a diverse and rapidly expanding community where the institutions that bring people together, like schools, councils, sporting clubs, carry an outsized responsibility for social cohesion.

Mayor Cr. Lara Carli, speaking at the awards ceremony, reflected on the role volunteers play in communities like Melton’s. “Volunteering creates friendships, strengthens communities and builds a sense of belonging,” she said. “It helps people feel connected, supported and valued, and those things are more important than ever in a growing and diverse community like ours.”

For the girls now playing football at Spring Hills who were not playing anywhere eight years ago, Markovski’s contribution is not abstract. It is the specific and concrete fact of having somewhere to play, someone to coach them, and a pathway that leads somewhere.

GIS Masterclass: Fan Engagement and Marketing with Terry Lynam and Karen Grega

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Image Credit: Global Institute of Sport

The Global Institute of Sport recently hosted a masterclass on Fan Engagement and Marketing, bringing together two industry leaders to tackle the field’s most pressing issues.

The Global Institute of Sport (GIS), which offers a Master’s in Sports Business and Sports Analytics through the University of Newcastle, regularly holds masterclasses with industry leaders as part of its curriculum.

The latest focused on fan engagement and marketing, covering two key themes: the growing tension between live sport and online streaming, and the role of data in shaping the fan experience.

The panelists 

Terry Lynam recently concluded her role as General Manager of Fan Experience and Events at Football Australia, overseeing the AFC Women’s Asian Cup on home soil.

Karen Grega is an experienced sports management consultant with a multi-code background. She currently represents Football Coaches Australia (FCA) and Heartbeat of Football, and has previously worked with Sydney Cricket Ground, Venues NSW and Sydney FC.

Live Sport and social media.

Terry Lynam opened with a pointed statement — one she acknowledged would be controversial. She argued that the sense of community unique to live sport is being eroded by social media and ‘snippet’ consumption.

Central to her concern is how marketing teams are failing to segment their audiences, treating casual online viewers the same as matchday fans.

“If they aren’t spending money on the sport we shouldn’t count them as spectators to the same level as match going fans.”

“What we want to consider as marketeers is how much we want to give away and how much we want our live sport element to remain,” Lynam said.

Grega echoed the sentiment, arguing fan engagement ultimately comes down to human connection. “It’s not rocket science.”

She suggested the industry revisit the concept of sport as a family outing to recapture that communal experience.

Data Driving Decisions

Both panelists highlighted data and analytics as central to modern fan engagement.

Grega recalled the introduction of computerised turnstiles as a turning point, enabling teams to track crowd movements and optimise staffing and entry times.

She also noted the continued value of fan surveys in informing marketing decisions.

Lynam pointed to ticketing technology as a significant data frontier.

Modern platforms like Ticketmaster’s ticket-transfer system now provide detailed customer insights.

“It allows us to have a better understanding of who’s getting the ticket and how they transport themselves there or when they arrive,”

“We can personalise their journey and sell content to them,” Lynam commented. 

The discussion also touched on data sourced from social media and on-field player tracking, as well as interactive stadium technology gaining traction in the US.

This included holographic assistants and player headset interactions that bring a broadcast-style experience to live events.

Activations That Educate

Activations rounded out the masterclass, with Lynam detailing how she created a fan zone on a modest budget for the Women’s Asian Cup.

The activation featured charitable partnerships focused on women’s health, including Heartbeat of Football, Endometriosis Australia and Share the Dignity.

“I’m very hopeful that that type of idea gets pushed through on other sporting events,” Lynam said.

Grega elaborated on the Heartbeat of Football activation, highlighting how a competitive element built around CPR and heart health kept fans engaged while also educating them.

“The whole health hub ticked all the boxes — it was immersive, it was interactive, it was there for all ages, both sexes.”

“That sort of blueprint is one that should be replicated as much as possible,” Explained Karen Grega

The masterclass offered students and industry professionals a valuable window into contemporary sports marketing.

As the competition for fan attention intensifies, the blend of live experience, smart data use, and purposeful activations can help define the next chapters of fan engagement.

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