W-League Launch - i have man crush on matildas!

Well, it sounds pussy to say 'i have a crush on the matildas!' - why can't i have a big old 'man crush' to go with my man bag and my man hawk. enough of me, eh.


Girl power … Central Coast's Kyah Simon (front) leads yesterday's W-League launch.
Photo: Brendan Esposito

AUSTRALIA'S leading female footballers are heading home for the new W-League kick-off this weekend. Eight teams, representing the seven Australian A-League clubs plus Canberra, will compete in the first national women's league for four years.

All the leading Matildas from last year's historic World Cup quarter-final campaign are expected to participate in the 43-game competition spanning 10 rounds and a two-week finals series ending in January.

With the salary cap at just $150,000 per team, the women will be earning far less than their male counterparts. When the new pro women's comp in the United States starts next year, some of Australia's stars will be plying their trade in three different countries inside a year, as well as undertaking national team duties.

Star striker Lisa De Vanna will make a late start to the W-League with Perth Glory because of her commitments in the Swedish league, then head to the US next year.

"This is not only an exciting new era in women's football, but it's also another landmark for women's sport," said Football Federation chief executive Ben Buckley. "The women's game globally is growing in popularity and stature and is one of the few sports available for talented women athletes to represent their country from an early age.

"From a football perspective, the Westfield W-League will help in eliminating a competition gap for our top women players and better prepare them for international competition."

this SMH article is one of many this week featuring women football players. LOVE!

Matildas win ASEAN Championships 1-0

A tense final culminated in a 1-0 win to the Matildas against host nation Vietnam in the ASEAN Championships. We expected a great result from the side who made the quarterfinals of the World Cup and they delivered.

Lydia Williams, pictured above, had a very tough time in goal but kept a clean sheet! according to articles on The World Game site and other sources.

Seeing the players in action in the forthcoming W-League will be a treat! As far as I'm concerned, all Matildas, young or otherwise are worthy of 3 SWORDs. They deliver every day (for very little pay).

Homeless Women's World Cup in Melbourne December 2008

I've been on the periphery of activities and groups like the Sydney's Street Socceroos and Sydney Street Choir. But that's not how I found out about the first ever Homeless Women's World Cup in Melbourne this year! I was checking on my Kiva loans and was referred on to globalgiving.org - which is another website that I recommend everyone has a look at. Also Zopa or Fosik.

If you are in a FEMINIST, FOOTBALL or SOCCER network - spread the love!

clipped from www.globalgiving.com 100 women from 8 nations at the Homeless World Cup

For the very first time we will hold a Women's Homeless World Cup in Melbourne Australia from 1-7 December 2008 with 8 national teams including Columbia, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Uganda and Zambia. Make a one-time monthly recurring donation $10 - Training soccer ball for one national team's practice sessions $20 - National uniform for one female player to play and train in $50 - Visa and travel documents for one player to attend $100 - Water for one national team at the Homeless World Cup $500 - A Coaching Workshop for 10 women, one national team $1,000 - Accommodation, Food and Transport for one player to attend the Homeless World Cup $10,000 - Accommodation, Food and Transport for one national team to attend the Homeless World Cup $94,910 - Will fully fund this project $ Other amount

blog lockdown starts now!

I mean tomorrow. Really really really really.

From tomorrow, these are the rules:

1. No more than 3 posts a day.
2. No more than 1 hour TOTAL. (unless i happen to get really highly paid job blogging lol)
3. 1 hour spent in exercise each day. (without sneaking off to the computer or the notebook or the chips and bikkies)
   
4. Alcohol intake to be severely reduced... ditto chips
5. Real writing to be done for 4 hours/day, 5 days/week
6. Daily blog/log/survey to be kept ... without wasting valuable exercise or writing time on it.
   

This will be an interesting exercise! When i did more exercise I thought less in general. Daily survey of thoughts vs actions to be kept!

Now if I can add quality time with my loved ones I might achieve beatitude and simply cease to exist in this time and space as we know it.

W-League kick off in October

from SBS The World Game
W-League to kick off in October

28 July 2008 | 11:22 - FFA

Football Federation Australia (FFA) and Westfield have announced a landmark agreement in support of the fastest growing team sport for women in the country - women’s football.



The Westfield Group's support involves women’s football ranging from the Westfield Championship for Girls, the establishment of a new national women’s league known as the Westfield W-League, and the national women's team to be known as the Westfield Matildas.

Westfield has also extended its partnership in respect of the Socceroos and the A-League.

“We are delighted to announce this new and historic agreement for women’s football,” said FFA CEO Ben Buckley.

“Women’s football is a big growth sport which is enjoyed by many girls and women and watched by many mums and grandmothers each weekend, and it’s terrific to have the support of Westfield in our efforts to grow and develop the sport even further.”

Buckley said that women’s football has enjoyed an average annual growth rate of 6.3 percent over the past five years, especially on the back of the performance of the Matildas in the Women’s World Cup in 2007.

“The Westfield Matildas are one of the highest achieving sporting teams in Australia, having made four Women’s World Cup tournaments and several Olympic Games, and football offers a unrivalled career path for talented elite women athletes,” Buckley said.

Westfield’s Group Managing Director, Steven Lowy, said that women’s football is a great strategic fit for the business.

“Last year there were nearly 450 million visits to Westfield shopping centres, 70 percent of those visits were made by women. What better way to connect that huge number of women who visit Westfield each year than through this sponsorship of one of the fastest-growing sports in the country."

“We have planned a range of activities including player appearances, coaching clinics and game hospitality designed to create real value for our customers across our 44 regional shopping centres in Australia."

“It is one way of us giving back something to the community in a way which encourages a healthy, active and positive lifestyle. Girls will now have more resources, better competitions, more media attention and a clear and organised pathway to the top for our elite women players.”

The Federal Government also contributed funds towards the cost of establishing a televised national women’s league as part of its 2007 election promises.

Broadcast rights are still under discussion.

Buckley said the Westfield W-League will comprise teams from each of the seven Australian Hyundai A-League clubs as well as Canberra, and will kick-off at the end of October.

Matildas 4th place in Asian Cup

Sad.

Good write up over at Capital Football, where they know how to keep women's and grassroots football in the net. Now all they want for xmas is an a-league team for Canberra. Guess they'll just have to settle for a w-league team!

Capital Football

http://nearpost.blogspot.com/2008/06/tom-sermanni-reviews-asian-cup.html

stay posted for lots of news from w-league act players (like caitlin munoz) on the site!

Sara Walsh breaks leg in game! Men are such wusses.

Sara Walsh is out of action but hopefully will return to full strength after breaking her leg during the Canada game (2-1) of the AFC Women's Asian Cup. Walsh is one of Australia's top goal scorers and will be sorely missed. But honestly, if you saw the game, you have to say.. "MEN ARE WUSSES!" or something more colorful along those lines.

full item from Football Australia

Matildas hit by loss of key players on eve of Asian Cup
Sunday, 25 May 2008

Sarah Walsh
Sarah Walsh celebrates after scoring against Ghana at the FIFA Women's World Cup
© Getty Images

The Matildas squad has been hit by the loss of key players on the eve of the AFC Women's Asian Cup losing experienced duo Sarah Walsh and Joanne Burgess less than a week out from the commencement of the tournament.

Australia will open their AFC Women’s Asian Cup campaign against Chinese Taipei on Thursday 29 May, followed by the match against Korea Republic on Saturday 31 May with the final group match against Japan on Monday 2 June.

Walsh who is one of Australia's all-time highest goalscorers, suffered a fractured leg in Friday night's 2-1 win over Canada in Sydney and is expected to be out of action for several months. Midfielder Burgess, another regular from last year's World Cup campaign has withdrawn due to family reasons.

Coach Tom Sermanni has called into his Asian Cup squad the three young players who were in camp during the week in Sydney. Young Matildas 16-year-old pair Tameka Butt and Ella Mastrantonio, along with striker Jenna Tristram will join the 21-strong squad which today departs for Vietnam.

Perth midfielder Mastrantonio is yet to make her debut at senior level while Gold Coast based midfielder Butt has already made four appearances for the Matildas including as a substitute in Friday's morale boosting victory over Canada. They will join fellow members of last year's Young Matildas team already selected for the tournament - Ellyse Perry, Kyah Simon, Clare Polkinghorne and Lydia Williams.

21 year old Tristram made a welcome return to the national team on Friday night having been absent for over twelve months after suffering a serious knee injury a day after making her Matildas debut in her home town of Coffs Harbour in April last year.

The Matildas will be aiming to become the first Australian team to be crowned Asian champions in the final in Ho Chi Minh City on June 8.

The Matildas squad for the 2008 AFC Women's Asian Cup:

Goalkeepers – Melissa Barbieri (Melbourne), Lydia Williams (Canberra)

Defenders – Di Alagich (Sydney), Kim Carroll (Brisbane), Kate McShea (Brisbane), Ellyse Perry (Sydney), Clare Polkinghorne (Brisbane), Karla Reuter (Brisbane), Cheryl Salisbury (Newcastle)

Midfielders – Tameka Butt (Gold Coast), Amy Chapman (Canberra), Lauren Colthorpe (Brisbane), Heather Garriock (Sydney), Ella Mastrantonio (Perth), Collette McCallum (Perth), Amber Neilson (Newcastle)

Forwards – Lisa De Vanna (Perth), Kate Gill (Newcastle), Caitlin Munoz (Canberra), Kyah Simon (Sydney), Jenna Tristram (Brisbane),
(current home city)

2008 Women's Asian Cup
28 May - June 8, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

2008 Peace Cup
June 14-21, Suwon, Korea

The Three Faces of Me - Mad, Mum and Menopaused

"The truth is, a great mind must be androgynous." Coleridge.

2008 has been marked by early menopause. So to celebrate, I'm taking Menopause the Moshpit and all things grumpy old woman to a new blog - andragy.com

The stages of life have blurred somewhat. I'm still in the middle of the playground mafia but I've gone from presexual, to full sexual, to breeder (thus no sex) to ... been there done that... let's talk about bonescans. Good news though after the hot flushes have finished the sex drive returns and I don't need to worry about having more children! Haven't got round to telling my hubbie yet though, I'm still wondering just how many laps I want to take a sex drive for.

And I'm still young enough to be going to gigs, learning to surf and playing soccer - albeit creakily at times. And I'm still mad enough to give a shit that feminism is harder to find than a flea's dick with a microscope. (Why do women think they won? What is this post feminist rhetoric? We have entered a pre-Victorian era!)

So Azabela will wait for the return of the woman warrior and all three faces of me are moving to somewhere grumpier... perhaps with a bigger agenda. And whatever happened to those earlier blogs that I forgot about?

Andragyne; the union of both sexes in one body. (Websters)

And i know promote myself to 3 SWORDS for bringing all the grumbling into one long loud SHOUT OUT!

Caroline Coppola : 2007 French jnr vicechamp

So good, so young! Just like me.

2006 World Championships : Women 51+

especially watch Australia's Bronwyn Butterworth take Silver Medal!

2006 World Poomsae Championship: Female (14-18)

2006 World Poomsae Championship: Female (19-30)

2006 World Poomsae Championship: Female (31-40)

2006 World Poomsae Championship: Female (41-50)

Carmela Hartnett - Australia - gets bronze

Blood Sports 3

New sports and hybrids continually emerge, breakdancing, parkour, cheerleading, freestyle skydiving, wind tunnel acrobatics, inflatable track tumbling.

Who can predict what will emerge as a new sport? Why not insist that emerging sports areas forecast maximum allowable skills to minimise permanent disability or death and to prevent the exploitation of the young.

Where do we draw the line on how much punishment an athlete is expected to take for their sport and how is that influenced by how much money is in the sport... or how entertaining the prospect of the big crash is?

Lets compare life expectancies competitively in a range of sports and the injury/disability rate. Netball is supposed to be quite bad for knees etc, but does a competitive lifespan of 10 years make that better than aerial skiing with a 2 year lifespan? Or being a jockey?

Blood Sports 2

Sports do not stay the same. It's rarely just a social change, such as turning volleyball with 6 players into beach volleyball with 2 players in bikinis. New sports are developed as new equipment makes things possible.

New equipment has radically changed gymnastics in the last 20 years. The routines that existed when Olga Korbut stuck her saults on beam and captivated the world seem incredibly easy. But equipment was wooden and not very springy.

Now certain skills are being prohibited from competition as being too dangerous. Yes, some people can do them, but they shouldn't be included in the allowable set of skills because of the extreme physical risk.

Example: saltos ending in a roll (1 ½ or 1 ¾ ) are now prohibited for women but not men (greater shoulder strength).

At the same time as this questionable progress, aerial skiing has been endorsed as an Olympic sport and in Australia we, scenting medals, are offering scholarships to any gymnasts or divers who want to change... especially retired gymnasts and divers who get a second bite at a sport doesn't yet prioritise girls over women.

Trouble is, it's a killer.

We don't let women box but we pay them to take up aerial skiing? I can't figure that out. I'd like to get per athlete per gender injury statistics for all of our sports and see what really makes sense!

Blood Sports

I am unable to ignore the fact that women's sporting bodies are prepubescent, while men's are not. Simply, champions are men and girls. Boys are not the highest achievers in any sport, yet girls are in many sports rather than women.

With the massive professionalisation of sport occuring in the last century, there has already been focus on the exploitation of the young, but there is little addressing the underlying dilemma where in some sports, the best competitors are the youngest. Diving, gymnastics, trampoline, swimming? and how many others? where female power to weight ratio is critical.

The closest we have come to addressing this is to codify minimum ages for olympic competition (for example) for some sports. The reality is that creates a very short sporting life for top athletes who are out of the sport post puberty (often delayed until 18 to 22 tops).

So where to? It's not enough to blame excessively competitive gyms or pushy parents or eastern european (now american) or chinese training regimes, bleat in the press and insert token minimum ages!

Competitive sports that privilege the prepubescent body are an issue in themselves, but they are sports I love and would like them to be available for women. How to?