Football Tasmania CEO Matt Bulkeley has congratulated the Matildas on a great effort at the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup, predicting a spike in female football participation in Tasmania off the back of the tournament.
“Despite going out earlier than we all hoped, the Matildas’ skill and passion has once again seen them capture the hearts and minds of all Tasmanian football fans – especially the young girls who aspire to one day pull on the green and gold and represent the Matildas at future tournaments,” Mr Bulkeley said.
“We know that participation rates typically soar after a major tournament such as the Women’s World Cup and we are looking forward to welcoming even more women and girls into our game as this boost comes into effect.
“Female football has a long and proud history in Tasmania spanning more than forty years after the first female-only league was established in 1978/79.
“Since then the sport has continued to grow among women and girls and now 26 per cent of registered football players in Tasmania are female, which is the highest proportion of any state or territory in Australia. When you take into account the fact that football is Tasmania’s most played team sport, this figure is definitely significant, but we would like to see it grow even further.”
“To ensure all existing and future female players can continue to enjoy our great game we will be working closely with clubs, junior associations and all levels of government to invest in the infrastructure required to support further female participation growth.
“Football Tasmania is supporting a number of grants entered into the first stage of the State Government’s Levelling the Playing Field program and we are looking forward to seeing these projects become a reality.
“There’s a very real possibility Australia will host the next Women’s World Cup in 2023 and it would be fantastic to grow women’s football in Tasmania even further so we are in a position to host games during the tournament and even maybe have our very own Tasmanian Matilda in the team.
