Matildas waltz to round of 16, but football fans are hip hopping mad

Despite their frustration at the lack of free-to-air coverage of the FIFA Women’s World Cup, letter writers and online commenters agreed the Matildas represent the very best of Australia’s skill and ability in the beautiful game.

Is the World Cup worthy of government investment?

• The Women’s World Cup has already drawn sell-out crowds and attracted big ratings for free-to-air (FTA) broadcast partner Seven, but some of the biggest games have only been available to Optus subscribers. Fans are furious, wrote Martin Boulton.

Vulch Blame the usual money-grab by FIFA. They knew they were selling the rights in Australia to sit behind a paywall. They didn’t care because they don’t want anything to stand in the way of dollars.

triv I paid for Optus Sport for this World Cup but it keeps crashing; can’t keep up with demand. Can’t watch replays etc. Absolute disgrace.

Deirdre Chambers It’s their loss. I’m not going to buy yet another package when I’ve been able watch on free-to-air the Tour de France, a brilliant Ashes series, brilliant swimming at the world championships, the Bledisloe Cup and the Matildas’ games.

Chapsta I’ve been to four games, all packed stadiums, amazing buzz. The crowds at women’s football are kind, courteous and just having a great time. It is huge: sold-out stadiums across the country, all ages, cultures and genders. The mind boggles that this wasn’t worthy of government investment in FTA broadcasting.

Jane Armitage, Mosman Forget the pub test, try the supermarket queue test. The FIFA Women’s World Cup is being held in Australia and New Zealand, but if you are interested you can hardly watch any games on free-to-air TV. Yes, the Matildas’ games, but not much else until later rounds. We must do better for women’s sport and its massive popularity. What a wasted opportunity.

Neil Ross The adage of “money rules” appears to cover this situation. Forget about public interest, it’s company profits.

terry There are a lot more sponsorship dollars available. Unfortunately, which ever way you look at sports, men’s sports will always massively out-rate women’s sports.

Brian Ah yes, big sporting events. If the government pays for it, people complain about the cost. If the private sector pays for it, people complain about having to pay to see it.

Money rules and wrecks a dream

• In what has become a painful case of déjà vu for World Cup connoisseurs in Australia, just 15 of the 64 matches are available on free-to-air TV. Television sports presenter and journalist Lucy Zelic asked: Have we learned nothing from the past?

Pirate Pete from Port What about regional Australia? How do young girls who live outside a couple of capital cities access the “world game”? Terribly short-sighted and ignorant decision. Again, money rules and wrecks a dream.

am79 The number one thing Football Australia can do for the sport in the country is buy the rights of all the major football leagues and upcoming competitions and set up a reasonably priced subscription service with solid streaming technology to back it.

Hassie I’m currently on holiday in the UK and every match is on free-to-air. It’s a disgrace it’s not the same in Australia.

SRT It’s all pretty simple. Unless it was going to be a ratings bonanza it would only have limited time on free-to-air. Channel 7 would know that they could screen all of these other matches and next to nobody would be watching them, and they’d struggle for advertisers.

Mimi If Australian men aren’t playing, and if Australia isn’t playing generally, the networks aren’t interested, and assumes the viewing public isn’t either. We have a long way to go recognise that our multicultural community is part of the global diaspora.

A game that will be remembered for generations

• Tony Gustavsson’s calm and disciplined side pulled off a sensational 4-0 win over Olympic champions Canada this week. Sports reporters Emma Kemp and Vince Rugari looked at the Matildas’ performances as the team faces a do-or-die match against Denmark in Sydney on Monday night.

Coburg20 Being at the game on Monday was an absolute joy. A brilliant experience that I know my children will remember. So proud of the Matildas for their performance and of the soccer lovers who packed the stadium!

ProudAussie What a match! Great to see that the Matildas got their mojo back. I hope it takes them through to the final, and they win the cup.

MikeA Great display of the Matildas on the front foot – we have the talent. Go Matildas!

Platitudinous A superb defensive effort once the win was in the bag. I take back everything I said about the coach after the Nigerian game.

Joe Whitcombe, Bronte Something was missing in this World Cup the other night: where is all the usual hand wringing, the writhing around on the ground following the mildest tackle? Where is the time-wasting; the boring stop-start; the coaching staff screeching abuse? This is the Women’s World Cup – showing them how it’s done.

Sarah Johnson, Sandy Bay The Matildas are regularly cited as great role models for girls and women. Why not for boys and men, too?

David Schulberg In all this euphoria one needs to ask why the coach made few substitutions. Given the team had the game in the bag after the third goal why weren’t top players taken off to protect them from injury and those sitting on the bench given a chance to stretch their legs?

Is Est Quis Is Est This was the game that will be spoken of for a generation. Bravo, Matildas. You represent the very best of Australia’s skill and ability.

Peaches Awesome win by the Matildas!

Gerardo Prietto, Stockton Marvellous Attitude; Teamwork, Inclusive Leadership; Driven Ambition; Superwomen; MATILDAS!

Janice Creenaune, Austinmer Hayley Raso’s roar must scare all the opposition but her colour co-ordinated hair ribbon captures our hearts. What a player, what a team!

Elaine Smith, Avalon Surely Premier Chris Minns can now light up the Opera House and put more flags in the city after our wonderful, incredible teamwork and win! The best!

Denis Suttling, Newport Beach May the waltz continue beyond the round of 16.

• You can join the conversation at smh.com.au in the comments sections of each article and in letters to the editor in print and online. See you next Friday. Go Matildas! Yours. Sincerely, Pat Stringa, letters editor

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