The Matildas: Australians going OTT on sport yet again?

The recent Women's World Cup has been dubbedby SBS as "the gayest ever" due to the number of players who have "public queer personas". This is symptomatic of women's sport overall, where openly lesbian competitors are disproportionately successful, probably because of greater inherent drive to win (a characteristic more commonly associated with males).

Australians love a winner, and unduly watch sports, where Australia does well. Cricket is a prime example of this, whereas public support for the hapless Wallabies has declined. Swimming (not a particularly attractive sport for spectators) draws enough interest to entice TV coverage, mainly I suspect, because Australia does well internationally. The Matildas, I suspect, will fade in apparent public success, when they revert to playing half or more of their matches overseas.

We should stop deluding ourselves that Australia is world champion material in any football code other than Rugby League. Australians play four different football codes, with the diversity in participation reducing our competitiveness in each, compared with countries with one dominant code. The only reason for our dominance in League, is that, while it is foremost in NSW and Queensland, few overseas countries play the sport to any great extent.

In the longer term I think it likely than there will be continued growth in participation in women's soccer, and that (in the short term) the Matildas' recent performances will contribute to this. Soccer is perceived as less physical than other football codes, which makes it more appealing to women. Aussie Mums already (in many cases) prefer to see their sons play soccer instead of rougher football codes like rugby and AFL. By extension, while the future for women's soccer is bright, I think women's AFL and (especially) rugby may struggle.