Matildas' 'phenomenal' impact on another Aussie team
Story by Zachary Gates, MSN
Australian rugby sevens star Dom du Toit says the women's team has been inspired by the Matildas' World Cup magic as it strives to attract its own feverish following through a revamped tournament.
Du Toit and her teammates are in Dubai for the first leg of the new-look world series, taking place on the weekend, as they continue to build for the Olympic Games.
While the Matildas wowed the masses at packed-out stadiums in Australia, the national women's rugby sevens team is hoping to captivate Australians as it takes on the world in Dubai, Cape Town, Perth, Vancouver, Los Angeles, Hong Kong, Singapore and Madrid.
Given the ever-increasing professionalisation of women's sport, competition has never been fiercer as sports such as football, rugby union, rugby league and Australian rules fight to snap up juniors, but du Toit was glowing of the Matildas in an interview with Wide World of Sports.
"Without wanting to ride on the Matildas' coattails too much, I think their World Cup success is definitely something we can use to build our platform and showcase our talent and what we do," du Toit said.
"Hopefully we can build awareness and get people watching. People don't even know that we play, so the more we can get people knowing that we play, they'll watch us, and that's going to grow that interest and they'll see what we can do.
"Leading into the Olympics it'll be awesome."
Du Toit admitted to not being a "huge" football fan, but the Zimbabwe-born Australian said she watched every one of the Matildas' World Cup games.
The 26-year-old, a member of the Australian team that finished fifth at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, said the Matildas' impact on women's sport in Australia had been "phenomenal".
"The whole lead-up to it, the way the media marketed it, the way they marketed themselves and the way they presented themselves so authentically just made the whole Australian public connect," du Toit said.
"Hopefully we can build awareness and get people watching. People don't even know that we play, so the more we can get people knowing that we play, they'll watch us, and that's going to grow that interest and they'll see what we can do.
"Leading into the Olympics it'll be awesome."
Du Toit admitted to not being a "huge" football fan, but the Zimbabwe-born Australian said she watched every one of the Matildas' World Cup games.
The 26-year-old, a member of the Australian team that finished fifth at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, said the Matildas' impact on women's sport in Australia had been "phenomenal".
"The whole lead-up to it, the way the media marketed it, the way they marketed themselves and the way they presented themselves so authentically just made the whole Australian public connect," du Toit said.
"Their performances, as well, were epic. That penalty shootout [against France] — I don't know if there were many households in Australia that weren't watching that.
"It was really, really positive what they did — not just for themselves, I'm super stoked for them, but for women's sport in Australia.
"Even for us leading into the Olympics, it's really grown the awareness of women's sport in general."
Another Australian rugby sevens star, Madison Ashby, said the Matildas were "amazing" and "unreal" on and off the pitch during the World Cup.
"They really put women's sport in Australia on a pedestal," Ashby told Wide World of Sports.
"Everyone wanted to watch them — men, women. They were the biggest thing at the time.
"Our team loves them so much ... They're a very inspiring team."
