2023 Women's World Cup

[Brodders17]

Disappointing result- England are obviously a really strong side, but we had enough clear chances to score, and we gifted them the lead back.
And I dont particularly like the narrative that the team has over achieved- the semi's really should have been the minimum aimed for with the team we have.
Depth was really our only issue and we managed to get by with a strong 14/15 players.

Hopefully we can finish on a high on Saturday night.

 

[mrposhman]

She is just about my favourite now. Her improvement over the last 12 months on the international stage has been huge (along with Fowler). I am a big fan of the composed skillful types.

She has been excellent all season, I doubt she will be playing in Sweden for too much longer, the bigger European clubs will be looking at her. Watching last night there wasn't a lot of difference between her and Keira Walsh for me, and Walsh now plays for Barcelona and I think she is the world record transfer holder in womens soccer, so its pretty high compliments.

This Matildas side should largely stick together between now and the next World Cup, with some further improvement from Cooney-Cross and Fowler (and I think both will be up there as some of the best players in the world in their positions in the coming years) and adding a few others then who knows for the next world cup. Clare Hunt has been a find at centre half too.

 

[Panthera Tigris]

Disappointing result- England are obviously a really strong side, but we had enough clear chances to score, and we gifted them the lead back.
And I dont particularly like the narrative that the team has over achieved- the semi's really should have been the minimum aimed for with the team we have.
Depth was really our only issue and we managed to get by with a strong 14/15 players.

Hopefully we can finish on a high on Saturday night.

Agree, the narrative seems to be that his came out of nowhere. Only to those Johnny-come latelys in the media that have zero clue and don't watch much sport.

Australia regularly makes the knockout stages and have played quarter finals before. No stretch to make it one or two more stages than previously achieved. The Matildas went into the tournament ranked in the top 10. Anyone in the top 10 has a great chance of making it to the late stages of a tournament if they play to potential.

 

[mrposhman]

Disappointing result- England are obviously a really strong side, but we had enough clear chances to score, and we gifted them the lead back.
And I dont particularly like the narrative that the team has over achieved- the semi's really should have been the minimum aimed for with the team we have.
Depth was really our only issue and we managed to get by with a strong 14/15 players.

Hopefully we can finish on a high on Saturday night.

Depth is certainly the biggest issue. The Matildas first 11 is strong but the depth behind isn't there right now. Its another reason why Sam Kerr came out last night pleading to have the sport funded properly. The participation levels for the kids is through the roof, but they need the funds to properly develop kids and build the pathways to becoming the class of players needed (both boys and girls). Its one way that they can prioritise as a focus to improve the A league.

 

[Brodders17]

Depth is certainly the biggest issue. The Matildas first 11 is strong but the depth behind isn't there right now. Its another reason why Sam Kerr came out last night pleading to have the sport funded properly. The participation levels for the kids is through the roof, but they need the funds to properly develop kids and build the pathways to becoming the class of players needed (both boys and girls). Its one way that they can prioritise as a focus to improve the A league.

Yeah, add EVE, Kennedy and Hunt to the 11 we started, and maybe Yallop and that really is about it. And you can probably add Simon. The rest were just making up the numbers against the best.

I reckon footballers, and ex footballers in the media, fall to easily back into the "fund us more" gripe. Yes more money will help, but without clarity around the "what and how" it always sounds like a bit of a populist money grab to me- the type of thing we complain about when pollies do.

I do know Football Australia and Football Victoria (and assumedly the other state federations as well) are doing a lot of work to prove the need, hopefully the quality is good enough.

 

[Baloo]

Clare Hunt has been a find at centre half too.

Yeah, she's got to be bound for Europe after this tournament.

Hunt 24, Fowler 20, Cooney-Cross 20. The future is bright.

 

[mrposhman]

Yeah, add EVE, Kennedy and Hunt to the 11 we started, and maybe Yallop and that really is about it. And you can probably add Simon. The rest were just making up the numbers against the best.

I reckon footballers, and ex footballers in the media, fall to easily back into the "fund us more" gripe. Yes more money will help, but without clarity around the "what and how" it always sounds like a bit of a populist money grab to me- the type of thing we complain about when pollies do.

I do know Football Australia and Football Victoria (and assumedly the other state federations as well) are doing a lot of work to prove the need, hopefully the quality is good enough.

The best way they can look at funding grassroots sport is looking at how others do it.
I don't mean this to sound pompous or anything, but they should look at England. I grew up in the 80's and 90's and throughout that time (and into the 2000's too), England played their football a lot like Australia (both mens and womens) play now. Against weaker nations are very strong, against the best nations they struggle to control possession against a better skilled team, and therefore are always under pressure but try to attack on the break. Essentially this works at the early stages of tournaments, but at the pointy end, that quality and control of the football makes it very difficult to score, and on the other hand weight of numbers normally indicates you will concede. Growing up, we had countless last 16 and quarter final exits from tournamants, so the focus was put on St Georges Park. This was essentially a much larger centre of excellence where club teams could train, but all ages of England internationals could perform there. It was essentially set up to house the best of the best and have the highest quality training facilities and coaches in the same place.

Australia used to have something similar in the AIS (probably similar to what England had before St Georges Park which was called Lilleshall). It takes time, but it has an impact on quality and skill and I think we are seeing that now with both England mens and womens national teams being able to compete much better at the pointy ends of tournaments as they can control the ball and therefore dictate the pace of games much better.

I'm sure the FFA want to jump on the current elevated focus on their game, and this is the type of stuff they need to do, to engage more kids into high level training in a centralised training camp environment.

 

[Panthera Tigris]

The best way they can look at funding grassroots sport is looking at how others do it.
I don't mean this to sound pompous or anything, but they should look at England. I grew up in the 80's and 90's and throughout that time (and into the 2000's too), England played their football a lot like Australia (both mens and womens) play now. Against weaker nations are very strong, against the best nations they struggle to control possession against a better skilled team, and therefore are always under pressure but try to attack on the break. Essentially this works at the early stages of tournaments, but at the pointy end, that quality and control of the football makes it very difficult to score, and on the other hand weight of numbers normally indicates you will concede. Growing up, we had countless last 16 and quarter final exits from tournamants, so the focus was put on St Georges Park. This was essentially a much larger centre of excellence where club teams could train, but all ages of England internationals could perform there. It was essentially set up to house the best of the best and have the highest quality training facilities and coaches in the same place.

Australia used to have something similar in the AIS (probably similar to what England had before St Georges Park which was called Lilleshall). It takes time, but it has an impact on quality and skill and I think we are seeing that now with both England mens and womens national teams being able to compete much better at the pointy ends of tournaments as they can control the ball and therefore dictate the pace of games much better.

I'm sure the FFA want to jump on the current elevated focus on their game, and this is the type of stuff they need to do, to engage more kids into high level training in a centralised training camp environment.

The AIS campus is still there. Sitting largely underutilised wasting away. A lot of the players in the late 90s early 2000s Socceroos era were quite glowing of their development during the time they spent at the AIS. Seemed pretty niche in that it could only cater to a small pool of players. A boutique version of St.Georges if you will. Perhaps the multisport nature of the institution had something to do with that. But provided a lot of Socceroos, who went on to great careers in Europe and internationally for Australia, and indeed a couple of players who ended up choosing to represent other countries instead (Croatia being a beneficiary). Bring it back to life.

 

[mrposhman]

The AIS campus is still there. Sitting largely underutilised wasting away. A lot of the players in the late 90s early 2000s Socceroos era were quite glowing of their development during the time they spent at the AIS. Seemed pretty niche in that it could only cater to a small pool of players. A boutique version of St.Georges if you will. Perhaps the multisport nature of the institution had something to do with that. But provided a lot of Socceroos, who went on to great careers in Europe and internationally for Australia, and indeed a couple of players who ended up choosing to represent other countries instead (Croatia being a beneficiary). Bring it back to life.

England used to have a small one too. It was called Lilleshall in Shropshire and was largely closed as the initial thought pattern was that club academies would take over, but these club academies were designed for the clubs and not the national team, and were therefore flooded with both English and overseas talent so the focus changed to be an area specifically for English talent and they made it much larger than they had before.

It was a big cost, but its used for other purposes too, for example I know my club (Peterborough Utd) had a pre-season camp there for a week or 2 during pre-season this year and other clubs do the same so they do recover money in secondary revenue streams so they could set them up to be multi purpose to an extent. Ie. in Australia, they could probably also focus on them being multi code facilities, whether that includes Rugby as they have similar size and shape fields, or AFL.

 

[Panthera Tigris]

England used to have a small one too. It was called Lilleshall in Shropshire and was largely closed as the initial thought pattern was that club academies would take over, but these club academies were designed for the clubs and not the national team, and were therefore flooded with both English and overseas talent so the focus changed to be an area specifically for English talent and they made it much larger than they had before.

It was a big cost, but its used for other purposes too, for example I know my club (Peterborough Utd) had a pre-season camp there for a week or 2 during pre-season this year and other clubs do the same so they do recover money in secondary revenue streams so they could set them up to be multi purpose to an extent. Ie. in Australia, they could probably also focus on them being multi code facilities, whether that includes Rugby as they have similar size and shape fields, or AFL.

What's the primary funding structure Posh? Does the FA itself have massive riches from TV revenue that is put into projects like this? Or does it come out of the more general government sports lottery revenue used for Olympic sports?

There are these kind of emotional claims, "fund the sport" (and more specifically, "fund women's soccer") after this tournament. But the challenge I foresee, the sport in general in Australia doesn't have loads of cash, men or women. The likes of England and Spain are able to put huge resources into their national programme (both men and women), because of the riches in the football system itself. A lot of this coming from huge TV revenues earned from their leagues.

Sure the FFA can definitely make a bit more as the Matildas and Socceroos have become more marketable. But the nation only watches them occasionally, not every week. Our leagues for whatever reason (audience) are just not big earners. And it's turning soccer into an expensive, middle class sport in this country. To get anywhere in the sport, those that can afford to pay for high performance soccer school providers and development squads get the best opportunity. Plus registrations in a lot of the country are quite expensive when compared to other sports. My understanding is to some degree, the bottom subsidises the top, not the other way around. Correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[artball]

referencing some of the comments above - England also have double the Australian population..

more people means more facilities, more support ..

and as we know, Football there is enormous, it's beyond sport, it's a culture unto itself, club to club..

 

[artball]

‘The future looks bright’: talk turns to how Australia capitalises on Matildas’ World Cup success

The Matildas have played their part in raising the profile of football but for everyone else the hard work starts now

www.theguardian.com

 

[Panthera Tigris]

referencing some of the comments above - England also have double the Australian population..

more people means more facilities, more support ..

and as we know, Football there is enormous, it's beyond sport, it's a culture unto itself, club to club..

True, although there are countries of the likes of Portugal and Croatia who have brilliant pedigree in the game, arguably outperforming a country like England over recent decades. And are far, far smaller than Australia.

 

[mrposhman]

What's the primary funding structure Posh? Does the FA itself have massive riches from TV revenue that is put into projects like this? Or does it come out of the more general government sports lottery revenue used for Olympic sports?

There are these kind of emotional claims, "fund the sport" (and more specifically, "fund women's soccer") after this tournament. But the challenge I foresee, the sport in general in Australia doesn't have loads of cash, men or women. The likes of England and Spain are able to put huge resources into their national programme (both men and women), because of the riches in the football system itself. A lot of this coming from huge TV revenues earned from their leagues.

Sure the FFA can definitely make a bit more as the Matildas and Socceroos have become more marketable. But the nation only watches them occasionally, not every week. Our leagues for whatever reason (audience) are just not big earners. And it's turning soccer into an expensive, middle class sport in this country. To get anywhere in the sport, those that can afford to pay for high performance soccer school providers and development squads get the best opportunity. Plus registrations in a lot of the country are quite expensive when compared to other sports. My understanding is to some degree, the bottom subsidises the top, not the other way around. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Money is certainly the biggest issue and I've been critical of the A League selling players for chump change as it doesn't bring the $'s for the game to develop.

The FA in England get most of their funding from TV for England Intls and the FA Cup, the Premier league money is controlled by the PL and disbursed to the clubs from there. They still have significant turnover to be able to fund something like SGP. I think it cost something like 150m GBP, so somewhere around $250m and that will have grown since then due to CPI, but the park doesn't need to be as big, just good enough facilities etc.

Looking at the FFA's balance sheet from 2022, they look healthy so with some cash, some debt and applications for lottery funding (SGP had some, but not a lot, was something like 6m GBP) and naming sponsorships then they potentially could afford to build something similar.

BTW SGP wasn't England's brainchild, it was based on the French system that delivered them the 98 World Cup and 2000 Euros so this type of centralised focus has a long history of succeeding.

I don't know about funding at the grassroots level in terms of subs as my kids haven't been enrolled in soccer at all, so you probably have a lot more info than I do there.

If it was me, the FFA need to do a review into where they want to take football in Australia and devise a pathway to get there. I think they have struggled financially for a number of years (hence selling off the rights to the A League) but seem in a much more stable position now to start moving towards a scenario such as the above.

 

[Panthera Tigris]

Money is certainly the biggest issue and I've been critical of the A League selling players for chump change as it doesn't bring the $'s for the game to develop.

The FA in England get most of their funding from TV for England Intls and the FA Cup, the Premier league money is controlled by the PL and disbursed to the clubs from there. They still have significant turnover to be able to fund something like SGP. I think it cost something like 150m GBP, so somewhere around $250m and that will have grown since then due to CPI, but the park doesn't need to be as big, just good enough facilities etc.

Looking at the FFA's balance sheet from 2022, they look healthy so with some cash, some debt and applications for lottery funding (SGP had some, but not a lot, was something like 6m GBP) and naming sponsorships then they potentially could afford to build something similar.

BTW SGP wasn't England's brainchild, it was based on the French system that delivered them the 98 World Cup and 2000 Euros so this type of centralised focus has a long history of succeeding.

I don't know about funding at the grassroots level in terms of subs as my kids haven't been enrolled in soccer at all, so you probably have a lot more info than I do there.

If it was me, the FFA need to do a review into where they want to take football in Australia and devise a pathway to get there. I think they have struggled financially for a number of years (hence selling off the rights to the A League) but seem in a much more stable position now to start moving towards a scenario such as the above.

If it could be tied in somehow to the AIS, that would make it cheaper again. Utilise the and upgrade the existing AIS football/soccer facilities that were used in the 90s to house footballers. Plenty of other pooled high performance sports science facilities to then leverage off.

 

[jb03]

If it could be tied in somehow to the AIS, that would make it cheaper again. Utilise the and upgrade the existing AIS football/soccer facilities that were used in the 90s to house footballers. Plenty of other pooled high performance sports science facilities to then leverage off.

The AIS is a shambles these days. Like a ghost city last time i visited.

 

[Scoop]

Disappointing result- England are obviously a really strong side, but we had enough clear chances to score, and we gifted them the lead back.
And I dont particularly like the narrative that the team has over achieved- the semi's really should have been the minimum aimed for with the team we have.
Depth was really our only issue and we managed to get by with a strong 14/15 players.

Hopefully we can finish on a high on Saturday night.

So this. We didn't bottle the game but we not only had chances to score but we gave up a howler.

The future is so bright, amazing tournament, great to see the Nation come together.

 

[Panthera Tigris]

The AIS is a shambles these days. Like a ghost city last time i visited.

Absolutely. That's what I was inferring earlier. The campus is sitting there, wasting away underutilised. If FFA wanted to set up shop there, they may even have it to themselves with a bit of a redevelopment of the football/soccer facilities. Utilise better what we already have, rather than letting it waste away.

 

[artball]

True, although there are countries of the likes of Portugal and Croatia who have brilliant pedigree in the game, arguably outperforming a country like England over recent decades. And are far, far smaller than Australia.

sure, but countries where Football is, and always has been big...

and didn't see either of them do much at this Cup...

 

[artball]

The AIS campus is still there. Sitting largely underutilised wasting away. A lot of the players in the late 90s early 2000s Socceroos era were quite glowing of their development during the time they spent at the AIS. Seemed pretty niche in that it could only cater to a small pool of players. A boutique version of St.Georges if you will. Perhaps the multisport nature of the institution had something to do with that. But provided a lot of Socceroos, who went on to great careers in Europe and internationally for Australia, and indeed a couple of players who ended up choosing to represent other countries instead (Croatia being a beneficiary). Bring it back to life.

ASC welcomes funding boost to help more Aussies get active

Australian Sports Commission Chair Josephine Sukkar AM has welcomed the Australian Government’s $155m package for sport announced in tonight’s Federal Budget which includes significant funding to keep kids active through sport.

www.ais.gov.au