Will The Women’s World Cup Transform Soccer In Australia?

In 2024, Matthew Galea and his Essendon Royals Club in Moonee Valley in Melbourne will not be able to cater to dozens of boys. The community club serves around 900 players, but with a waiting list of some 400 players Essendon Royals, founded in 1959 by Italian immigrants from Trieste, simply does not have the facilities to accommodate the growing interest in the sport. Galea and his club will however keep lobbying the local council and state government for funding.

It’s the scenario he had feared even before the Women’s World Cup. At the Football Writers Festival, with Thomas Hitzlsperger among the panellists, Galea, a marketeer at his club,…