Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says the FIFA Women’s World Cup has “changed sport in Australia forever” as he detailed a $200 million boost for women’s sport and an overhaul of broadcast rules.
Following the Matildas’ high-profile tilt to become world champions that ended with a semi-final defeat to England, Albanese announced the funding for the Play Our Way program in Brisbane on Saturday.
He also announced the appointment of an expert panel of former female athletes to help design the program, including Liz Ellis, Lauren Jackson, Madison de Rozario and Tal Karp.
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Albanese said the aim was to ensure that young girls could not only grow up seeing women in sport but aspire to be sportswomen themselves.
The investment comes after Matildas captain Sam Kerr called for more money to help develop grassroots soccer in Australia after the historic FIFA Women’s World Cup semi-final appearance.
The funding will be available to upgrade facilities and provide equipment, specifically for women and girls, in a bid to get more into sport.
The program will be available for all sports but soccer, as the most played game in Australia, will take up significant resourcing.
Applications for program grants are expected to open by early 2024.
Albanese said the government wanted women and girls across the country to have the facilities and support to choose a sport they love.
“The Matildas have given us a moment of national inspiration, this is about seizing that opportunity for the next generation, investing in community sporting facilities for women and girls around Australia,” Albanese said.
“We want women and girls everywhere in Australia to have the facilities and the support to choose a sport they love.”
Sports Minister Anika Wells said providing safer facilities was vital.
“Too often women and girls are changing in men’s bathrooms, wearing hand me down boys uniforms, playing with men’s equipment on poor fields that boys teams wouldn’t train on,” she said.
The government will also clarify its position on the future of the anti-siphoning list, which promotes free access to broadcasts of important sporting events.
A review of the list found the scheme needed to be modernised to incorporate online services to mitigate the risk of events slipping behind paywalls.
The review also found that the composition of the anti-siphoning list needed to be reconsidered with respect to women’s sports and para-sports.
The government’s preferred model affirms free-to-air broadcasting services as the safety net for free access to nationally important and culturally significant sporting events.
Streaming and other online services, along with subscription television broadcasters, could be prevented from securing coverage of an event on the anti-siphoning list until a free-to-air broadcaster has a right to televise it.
Possible additions to the list include the Paralympic Games, AFLW and NRLW games and the women’s State of Origin series.
The government’s options paper also canvasses the listing of men’s and women’s rugby league, rugby union, cricket and soccer matches that involve a senior Australian representative team.
The government is aiming to introduce new laws to parliament in coming months.
Following the semi-final loss to England, Kerr said funding for women’s football was desperately needed.
“We are there, we’re right there,” Kerr said.
“I can only speak for the Matildas. We need funding in our development. We need funding in our grassroots. We need funding. We need funding everywhere.
“The comparison to other sports isn’t really good enough. And hopefully this tournament changes that because that’s the legacy you leave — not what you do on the pitch. The legacy is what you do off the pitch.
“And hopefully, I mean, it’s hard to talk about now, but hopefully that this is the start of something new.”
Matildas vice-captain Steph Catley agreed and said the success for the team is “just the beginning” for women’s football in Australia.
“When you look at football in general in Australia, football is very much not funded the way it should be,” Catley said.
“There’s no argument now that people aren’t interested; people are interested. The numbers are there. Kids are playing. People want to be watching the sport.
“So yeah, hopefully this has just been enough to prove that and to create the argument and to improve facilities, improve standards for women in football, football in general.”
Watch Matildas v Sweden
Pre-game show
Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane 5.30pm live on Seven Network and 7plus
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Kick-off
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Watch Spain v England
Pre-game show
Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane 7pm live on Channel 7 and 7plus
Adelaide 6.30pm live on 7mate and 7plus, 7pm live on Channel 7 and 7plus
Perth 5pm live on 7mate and 7plus
Kick-off
Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane 8pm live on Channel 7 and 7plus
Adelaide 7.30pm live on Channel 7 and 7plus
Perth 6pm live on Channel 7 and 7plus
Mel McLaughlin and broadcasting legend Bruce McAvaney are leading Seven’s coverage of the FIFA Women’s World Cup, with expert insight from Elise Kellond-Knight, Heather Garriock and more. Watch the Matildas and other key matches live and free on 7plus.
– With Joel Martelli
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