Motions

FIFA Women's World Cup

Adjourned debate on motion of Ms Hutchesson (resumed on motion).

Mr BELL (Mount Gambier) (16:39): I would like to take a moment to touch on how much these moments like the Women's World Cup mean in particular to country kids. This week, former Matildas player Jenna McCormick visited our region to run clinics for the Limestone Coast All Abilities program. Jenna grew up in Mount Gambier and attended Tenison Woods College. She excelled at many sports, including Aussie Rules football and cricket, but found her options were limited locally. Like many SA country athletes, Jenna eventually made the move to Adelaide in 2010 as a 16 year old to further her sporting pursuits.

Since then, as well as being part of the Matildas squad, she has played for the Adelaide Crows in the AFLW and recently signed with the Brisbane Roar in the women's A-League. It was a once-in-a-lifetime moment for local athletes to hit the pitch with an elite sportswoman. It is so important for country kids to have access to these opportunities and in particular for young girls. At a time when over 50 per cent of girls are dropping out of sport by the time they are 16, having role models like Jenna to engage with and aspire to is vital.

Two young girls who are hoping to replicate Jenna's success are Mount Gambier locals Emmy Jeffrey and Ashlyn Cornolo. Both girls have been playing soccer since they were six years old and are the perfect example of what is required by country families. A normal week entails training two nights a week for their local clubs followed by a Saturday morning game. Immediately after the game, they jump in the car and make the five-hour drive to Adelaide. On Sunday mornings, they play for Fulham United in the Adelaide under-13 girls' competition then make the five-hour drive back to Mount Gambier.

On top of these commitments, they are also part of the state under 13 girls team, which means additional trips to Adelaide for training and games. In 2022, Emmy scored a total of 204 goals while playing in local and state competitions and is well on her way to achieving her dream of being Australia's next Sam Kerr. Ashlyn is currently training to join the under 14s full-time state squad, which will require her to move to Adelaide.

Since Jenna left Mount Gambier in 2010, things have improved locally, with both soccer and Aussie Rules football now having dedicated women's local competitions. It is essential that we now continue to invest in women's sport. After the Matildas' recent performance, Football Australia is anticipating a 20 per cent jump in female participation.

We need to have the facilities to cater for these numbers, especially at the grassroots level and, more importantly, in country areas, where junior sport numbers continue to decline. I welcome the recent announcement of $18 million for dedicated female sporting facilities and improvements and look forward to seeing that money filter down to the Limestone Coast. With those words, I commend the motion to the house.

Mr HUGHES (Giles) (16:43): I will add a few words to this great motion. Clearly, not all Australians but nearly all were caught up in the fantastic wave of enthusiasm that surrounded the Matildas and their sterling effort at the world game. It is one of those issues; this is a world game so, when it comes to ranking, you are up against just about every country in the world. You have to get to the World Cup and then you have to fight your way through against the best in the world.

To see what happened over those weeks was electrifying. I come from a football family. I have said in this place before there were only two rules in our household: north of the border you go for Celtic, and south of the border you go for Man United. I did have to add, 'You have to go for Port Adelaide, as well,' but that was my addition.

Football was the original love. I was a pretty mediocre football player. Way back then, my sister used to play football here in Adelaide and she was a good player. Indeed, she went on to play Gaelic football for New South Wales in the national championship, so she was a little bit of an athlete. She had the pleasure of taking her two daughters to watch the game in Sydney—the lucky bastards got a ticket. I did say, 'As an uncle, I could piss off one of your daughters and you could give me one of those tickets,' but I did not figure my life would be worth living if I were to do this.

By pure coincidence and accident, I happened to be in Brisbane when that incredibly exciting game was on. In fact, that would have to be one of the most exciting games of football I have seen. We could not get a ticket into the stadium. We went to the fan base, but the line was so long we ended up in a nearby pub. There were lots of big screens, it was crowded and the atmosphere was fantastic. I am not a nailbiter, but that night I manicured all my nails. That game was just so tense. To come down to 20 sudden death penalties, you just go, 'Wow!' The tension was amazing. When they won that game, the way the pub erupted in unison was a sight to behold.

People all over the country—whether in the stadium, at the fan base, in pubs, in clubs or in their homes—were transfixed by that game. I think it has done amazing things for women's and girls' football endeavours in this country. When we went on to play the Lionesses in Sydney, alas, it was not to be. The English did play a very good game of possession football and it looked as though they were on top, but to watch that Sam Kerr goal—that was a stunning goal from a distance. You go, 'Wow, what a goal! Fantastic!'

One of the important things is: how does this now ultimately translate? The member for Mount Gambier talked about that, at the regional level. I know that in Whyalla there has been an attempt to get a female league going, and that met with mixed success. I have to acknowledge Kirsty Arbuckle for all the work she did to try to get that league going. When you looked at some of the facilities that the female players were using, one in particular stuck in my mind, out at Steel. The male change facilities are pretty ordinary but the female facilities were appalling. So there is a lot to be done in terms of infrastructure, organisation and a whole range of things.

At the moment, in Whyalla there are 71 girls and women playing football in mixed teams so there is something there to build on. With the announcement of additional state money to assist female sport specifically—but also some of the money allocated to football—hopefully, regional communities like Mount Gambier and Whyalla will benefit. Of course, in Whyalla we have a strong history of football. We had seven teams once upon a time; we now have five teams in a city of 22,000 people. We want to encourage female participation and there is a lot of work to be done around that.

I came down last weekend to meet with the CEO of Football SA to look at some of their facilities and to see what could be replicated for football in general but also specifically for female football in Whyalla. I am hoping there are going to be some opportunities to work with Football SA, with the already secured $6 million that we have for a general sport hub, to see what we can do and what other money we can bring in.

As I said, watching those games over those nights was some of the most entertaining football I have seen and I think it has made a real difference. Others speakers referred to the massive TV audience for these games. They were breaking records that have not been seen for many, many years and I think that is an indication of how the nation got behind the Matildas.

Of course, we should all be proud of the fact—and they should be especially proud of the fact—that they did not get gold, they did not get silver and they did not get bronze but they came fourth and in the world game that is something absolutely amazing. Let's hope the Matildas go from strength to strength in the future and in order to go from strength to strength, we need to focus on grassroots football.

As the member for Mount Gambier said, when you play soccer in the regions, whether you are male or female, there is not the same degree of support that Aussie Rules players get, but in recent times Football SA have people out in the regions as an extension of Football SA to assist building up grassroots football by getting academies going in regional communities. I hope to see Mount Gambier benefit and I hope to see Whyalla benefit and possibly some other communities, but I am going to be very parochial, given our proud football history, and say that I want to see Whyalla benefit.

Ms HUTCHESSON (Waite) (16:51): I want to thank all members for their contribution to the motion. It was such an important one to make sure that we all had an opportunity to congratulate the Matildas on their incredible efforts not only in the World Cup but on all the legacy work they have inspired throughout our state with our record investment in women's sporting facilities, both for soccer and other sports.

I will quickly give a shout-out to my own soccer club, Sturt Lions, which has eight girls' teams and three women's teams. They have recently had one of their girls' teams promoted to the WNPL, so we are all very proud of them as well.

I commend the original motion. We will not be supporting the amended version for the reasons provided by the minister. I commend the motion to the house.

Amendment negatived; motion carried.