First Matildas: We represented the country, and it means a lot to all of us

����Ӱ�� announced in March the historic recognition of the 1975 Australian Women’s National Team who competed at the AFC Women's Championship as the “First Matildas.”

Two players from that team, captain Pat O’Connor and Trixie Tagg, sat down with ����Ӱ�� ahead of receiving International Caps numbered “O1” to acknowledge their contribution.

They discussed the rise of women’s football in the 1970s, the support they received, and what it means to be acknowledged as the First Matildas.

Alongside her husband and coach, Joe, Pat was one of the earliest advocates for women's football in Australia.

The couple and their son, Kirk, migrated to Sydney in 1963, where Pat became a foundation member and captain of Bass Hill women’s team. She was also a member of Prague women from 1968-70.

In 1971, Joe and Pat formed the St George women’s team, which remained unbeaten for over a decade.

Pat was integral in the formation of the National Women's Soccer Championships in 1974, and later the Australian Women's Soccer Association.

She was captain of the first Australian XI to compete in Hong Kong at the first Asian Women’s Cup in 1975 and was selected in the Asian All-Star team.

From 1968-77, she was also the top goalscorer every year she played at club level.

“When you were there 50 years ago, representing Australia in the first Women's Asian Cup tournament, wearing the green and gold, it doesn't really sink in,” O’Connor explained.

“You just go, you play and you try to win. Now, 50 years later, you think to yourself - we did good, you know? We represented the country. We did our best and it means a lot to all of us.”

Teammate and friend Trixie Tagg recalled how she discovered the existence of women’s football via a newspaper advertisement she read on her lunch break at work. That advertisement was by O’Connor, encouraging women to join the team known then as Sydney Prague.

The team were undefeated for three years between 1967 and 1970, before the group moved across to St George Budapest – undefeated between 1971 and 1977 – and then Marconi Ladies from 1978 to 1980.

“Playing with St George was excellent,” O’Connor recounted.

“They did the same for us as the Prague club. They spared uniforms, training grounds, and equipment. We had Johnny Warren as a club captain at the time. His brother, Ross - who was lovely man - he was looking after the juniors, so he took us under his jurisdiction, and looked after us exactly the same as he would the boys.

“Now and again, there were people that questioned women playing soccer, but once we proved to them we were serious - we wanted to play soccer as our chosen sport - and we proved it when we went onto the field, because of all the training we did, they accepted us. It was a really, really enjoyable time.”

That St George Budapest team became the large majority of the First Matildas squad that would represent Australia at the AFC Women's Championship in 1975.

“My fondest memories were walking out on that field wearing the Australian colours, playing in front of gigantic crowds,” Tagg said.

“I believe at one of the matches, there were 12,000 spectators. Back home in Sydney, we were lucky if there were 20 or 30 at club level!”

“Everybody was so happy, and we were impressed with the hospitality of the Hong Kong Football Federation.”

Raising the money to get the team there was no easy feat. It involved countless hours of fundraising at both grassroots and corporate levels to send the team to Hong Kong.

“We had no funding whatsoever, so it was the same old story – barbecues and car washes,” O’Connor explained.

“Every weekend, the girls all got together and organised as many fundraisers as they could, and that's how we raised our funds.

“In the end, I received a phone call from the executives of the Australian Soccer Pools [a lotto-style game that operated until 2018]. We’d made it known that we’d struggled to raise our fares, and we needed $1500, and time was getting short… they said, ‘We’ll donate $1500.’

“I did visit Pepsi as we tried to get sponsorship. They said cash is a problem, but from our depot in Hong Kong, we will deliver Pepsi to your hotel every day'… we just stacked it all there and said to the girls, ‘don’t drink the water!’”

Both O’Connor and Tagg have remained heavily involved in the women’s football community in subsequent years. They both spoke passionately about advancing the game and ensuring equal opportunity for both men and women.

“Once you love football, and you've got enthusiasm to put something back into the game, then it's easily done, and you end up working with enthusiastic younger players,” Tagg said.

“I ended up being the Registrar for Australian football in the 1980s, and I then became the publicity officer. That was very hard work in those days, to try to get a little article published.

“I wouldn't have missed it for anything. It was just a really good time in my life.”

Joe O'Connor coached both the First Matildas and the St George Budapest team from where the majority of the national team derived.

Their goal was simple – advocate for a world where football was just as accessible to women as it was to men.

“Our main go-to word was ‘encouragement,’ all the way along,” O’Connor said.

“In our opinion, women's soccer should be a game for women, the same as it is for men. So we said we would do our very best to make this happen. We really wanted to build the sport to keep it going, to make it grow. 

"Now, you can go around and see women and girls playing in their own matches, women's matches, girls matches," she continued.

“That's what makes me feel good. Knowing that, maybe we played a small part in making that happen today. We did our best, and I think that in the end, it proved us right, that it has become a major women's sport these days.”

Tagg finished by explaining how much the recognition of the 1975 team meant to the group.

“I don’t think there are enough words in the vocabulary for me to say how I feel, and how meaningful it is for every member of the squad,” she said.