Full Time: Matildas capture a nation
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More countries should put on homecoming parades. Who doesn’t love a good parade? I’m Emily Olsen here with Meg Linehan and Steph Yang — welcome to Full Time!
Even from Aotearoa New Zealand, where some of the team is preparing for the semifinal between Sweden and Spain on Tuesday at Eden Park, the energy that Australia is bringing to this World Cup is palpable.
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On my day off, I took a drive (about two hours) to Waihi Beach, where I met someone who had lived in the area all her life. As soon as she realized why I was in the country, she brought up New Zealand’s Football Ferns and the Matildas. And still, even with the friendly rivalry, my new friend couldn’t help but talk about what the Tillies’ run has done, even in the short term, for soccer in the region.
Premier of New South Wales (head of government in the region) Chris Minns announced that Australia’s game against England on Wednesday at Stadium Australia will be broadcast on the big screens at two major stadiums in the region: Allianz and CommBank.
It doesn’t feel like that far-fetched of a hyperbole to say the whole country is watching. The Matildas’ penalty shootout win against France was broadcast on the main news channel and streamed on Channel 7 and 7plus. It was “the highest-rated TV sports program of the last decade,” according to the broadcaster. The data is still “preliminary” but the viewership average was 4.17 million across the two platforms. Through 120 minutes and 20 exhilarating penalty kicks, an estimated 3.69 million on broadcast and another 472,000 on streaming tuned in. The data was reported by 7news and came from OzTAM data.
The players
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