Green and gold delight: Eden and Bonnie had a ball at the Shepparton Showgrounds on Saturday night watching the Matildas.
Matildas mania — or mayhem, or magic — has swept the nation across the past fortnight, collecting all and sundry up in its wake.
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From other sporting codes, to societal demographics not usually comfortable watching or talking about women’s sport — and even people who had never seen a minute of soccer in their lives — the Matildas are now everyone’s favourite team.
It is no small feat to grip the attention of a nation like ours in such a way that on every street corner, inside every local business and in every loungeroom the one word on everyone’s lips is ‘Matildas’.
Even in the bowels of dimly-lit sports bars, where women’s sport has rarely ventured in name or in nature, Sam Kerr and her charges are the number one ticket-holders in every conversation.
Can they beat the ‘Poms’?
Did you see how long that penalty shoot-out against France went for?
Do you know anyone with tickets to the semi-final?
Where are you watching the game on Wednesday night?
The dissolution of the ever-staunch lines in the sand between codes in this country — at least for the moment — is an interesting case study in itself.
My eldest daughter Eden, 5, asked me during the group stages of the current FIFA Women’s World Cup whether it was okay to support the Matildas, even though we barrack for Essendon.
Aside from having to explain the difference between a club in a national competition and a national team, it forced me to assess whether her already burgeoning, internalised ‘code wars’ battle was a product of our nature — or simply of my passionate red-and-black nurturing.
Why are we, as a sporting nation, so outwardly obsessed with one code rising above all others, when in reality we all support a myriad of teams in a variety of competitions just as fervently?
Check the social media bio of any sports fan born this century and you’re more likely than not to see a declaration of which AFL, NRL, NFL, NBA and EPL teams they follow, or at least a combination of them.
At what point in our progression through life do we decide one code must rule them all, at the expense of every other?
Or is the assumption of ‘code wars’ themselves just a beat-up from those in power of whichever league or competition is the flavour of the moment, looking to flex its muscles when given the slightest opportunity?
The answer, as boringly as always, is likely somewhere in between.
But back to the ‘Tillies’, as my daughters have been running around the house calling them this week.
It brings a happy tear to my eye to see Eden — like so many thousands of other young boys and girls across the nation — excited about something she doesn’t quite understand yet.
Because I know the way she feels right now, in this moment and across this tournament, is more important than her grasp of the offside rule or her analysis of the machinations of Tony Gustavsson’s refusal to turn to his substitutes throughout gruelling contest after gruelling contest.
These are formative years for not only her sporting future, but for the role models within which she chooses to trust her faith, belief and passion as she grows.
And what this Matildas squad has in spades — along with talent, grit and determination — is role models, including Shepparton-born Cortnee Vine.
There is little coincidence, in my mind at least, that Saturday night’s quarter-final win over France was the most-watched television event in this country since Cathy Freeman’s 400m final at the Sydney Olympics.
Given it fell in what were my formative years at the time, Freeman’s win invokes such emotion and triumphalism in me that I can regularly be found mumbling ‘Cathy, lifting’ to myself.
Naturally, Bruce McAvaney’s call of that fateful evening is my favourite piece of historical commentary as well.
So don’t let what you think get in the way of how you feel on Wednesday night — and hopefully onwards towards Sunday’s final as well.
Embrace the passion, the pride and the patriotism of it all, because these can be formative moments for you too, no matter your age.
Formative for your views on women’s sports.
Formative for your support of the round-ball game at a national, state and local level.
And formative for the stories you will be able to tell your grandkids about how you were along for the ride when the Matildas swept the nation and put the world on notice.
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