Former Matildas trailblazer Kerry Hetherington celebrates team’s progress from the paddock
Former Matildas player Kerry Hetherington may have traded the soccer pitch for an outback paddock, but her love for the women’s game has never wavered.
As the now beloved national team gear up for their second friendly game against Canada in Vancouver, she will be cheering them along from her farm in St George, southwest Queensland.
Not so long ago, she was strapping on the boots herself, but back in a time when players funded their own travel and no one watched on TV.
Her journey from trailblazer to sheep grazier shows just how far the women’s game has come.
Ms Hetherington was still a schoolgirl when her soccer coach came knocking on the front door of her family home in Brisbane, asking her Mum to let her play for Brisbane and then Queensland.
The youngest of eight children, her five older brothers had all played soccer.
Because the boys were playing soccer, we just naturally followed on, Ms Hetherington said.
She made the Australian team on her 17th birthday in 1981, with older sister Jo joining the squad two years later.
We’re still the only two sisters to have played an A international game together, Ms Hetherington said.
It’s all gone on from that.
We’ve always been very competitive. When I played, we were fourth in the world, and we’re still fourth in the world.
By 1990, after nearly a decade of fundraising, studying, working, and playing, Ms Hetherington was ready for a new challenge.
Pulling off the soccer boots, she got married and stepped into the work boots of a grain and sheep farmer.
For 33 years, her love of football and her happiness on the farm peacefully coexisted as she coached and fundraised for the local junior club in between mustering and planting.
That was until the World Cup came to Australia in July 2023.
The offer of free tickets and accommodation for the first game clashed with what would be a busy time on the farm if it rained.
Then it was dry. Thank goodness for the dry.
It was a special time for the sisters and their family as they took part in pre-game functions and celebrations.
It was just amazing to see all these girls [former teammates] 35 years onwards that hadn’t seen for so long, Ms Hetherington said.
And watch the soccer, the standard was just brilliant.
She hopes future squads can build on the success of the Matildas in the same way her generation set the foundation for the Tillies.
Get kids out enjoying it, Ms Hetherington said.
It’s not all about being a Matilda. It’s just loving every game.
