As the Young Matildas prepare to kick-off their FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup campaign, KEEPUP revisits an interview with head coach Leah Blayney, originally published in April.
A female taking an Australian national team to a World Cup has never been done before.
But that will change this month, when Leah Blayney becomes the first woman to achieve the feat with the Young Matildas at the FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup in Costa Rica – a tournament she participated in as a player, vice captain the last time the team qualified, in 2006.
“I’m definitely [proud],” Blayney told KEEPUP, with the Young Matildas due to kick-off their campaign against hosts Costa Rica on August 11 (12pm AEST). “I really, really am.
“In terms of how well we’re doing with women’s football in the country at the moment. With the fact we’re going to hold a [2023 Women’s] World Cup and the fact we’re going to have a female coach at a World Cup. That’s phenomenal.
“It’s an excellent moment for football.”
Blayney is touted as one of the best young coaches in Australian football.
The 35-year-old was appointed Young Matildas head coach in 2019, having served as a second assistant with the Matildas as part of the Football Australia Female Coach Mentor Program. She also worked as a lead scout for Australia at both the Rio Olympics and 2019 Women’s World Cup in France.
Blayney will now have the opportunity to test herself on the world stage, having also experienced an U20 World Cup as a player.
Blayney was vice-captain when the Young Matildas last qualified in 2006 in Russia.
This year’s major tournament, which was pushed back from 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, represents a new challenge for a coach continuing her upward trajectory in the game.
“Just knowing what’s ahead,” Blayney said with excitement. “Having experienced it as a player and knowing what will occur for the next five months in these players’ lives as well as the staff in the program, and the level of commitment, and the experiences and opportunities afforded through it.
“I’m extremely excited.”
Seventeen of the Liberty A-Leagues brightest talents will showcase their skills in Costa Rica, where the Young Matildas have been pitted against Costa Rica, 2006 semi-finalists Brazil and 2018 runners-up Spain in Group A.
After facing Costa Rica, Australia will play Brazil on August 13 (August 14 AEST) before concluding the group phase with a date against Spain on August 16 (August 17 AEST).
“Someone goes ‘did you watch the game on the weekend?’, ‘which one?’. We watch every single A-League game and our extended staff do as well,” said Blayney.
“I think that’s been something that has been helpful and then obviously our extended scouting networks in terms of the people based in certain states as well as overseas. We aren’t going to leave any stone unturned in terms of finding the right talent for this group.”
Blayney’s transition from player to coach has, from the outside at least, been seamless.
A 16-time Matilda, Blayney played for Sydney FC and Canberra United in the A-League Women, while she also took her talents to the United States and Sweden before retiring in 2012.
Becoming a coach was not at the forefront of her mind as a player, but the Katoomba-born Australian is in love with her job as she eyes even bigger things down the track.
“Not explicitly but looking back now on a lot of the things I’ve engaged myself in along my journey, it’s something I’ve always enjoyed the little bits and pieces I have done,” Blayney replied when asked if she always wanted to be a coach.
“I’m at a point now in my career where I’m thriving in terms of loving what I do whereas I started doing what I do because I liked it. So it’s definitely been a journey of investment and there’s been processes along the way to ensure you don’t transfer just from being a player into a coach because that’s not a successful step.
“There’s so much in between those two parallels to kind of set yourself up to be able to be a head coach in a national team environment or A-League club or an international club, and stay there for an extended period of time.”
Blayney is blazing a trail for female coaches in Australian football.
But what does the future look like for Blayney, who was in the Matildas squad alongside the likes of Melissa Barbieri, Heather Garriock, Alicia Ferguson, Lisa De Vanna, Cheryl Salisbury, Kate Gill, Sarah Walsh and Lydia Will when they finished runners-up at the 2006 Women’s Asian Cup?
“I definitely really enjoy the capacity I work in now,” Blayney said. “Certainly one day I would’ve love to have been a Young Matilda, coach the Young Matildas, been a Matilda and then coached them. That’s something that I’d aspire to for sure.”
It’s an exciting time for not only women’s football in Australia but across the world, with Blayney riding the wave.
The biggest event on the planet will be held Down Under, along with New Zealand, next year.
And the appetite for women’s football is only getting bigger.
England’s Women’s Euro 2022 final triumph over Germany attracted a crowd of 87,192 at Wembley – the highest attended match at either a men’s or women’s European Championship.
This after Barcelona’s record attendance of 91,553 supporters for the Women’s Champions League quarter-final win over rivals Real Madrid at Camp Nou was bettered a few weeks later in the club’s first-leg semi-final against Wolfsburg – 91,648.
It smashed the record for a women’s football match at club level, surpassing the 60,739 for Atletico Madrid against Barca at Wanda Metropolitano in 2019.
And it comes after the Matildas’ record-breaking crowd of more than 36,000 people for last year’s friendly against powerhouse the United States in Sydney.
“It’s a huge moment in women’s football across the world,” Blayney said while reflecting on the Barca-Madrid crowd. “That’s the crowd capacity the game has to attract.
“It doesn’t surprise me if you’ve been immersed in the women’s game over the last couple of years, you can see the growth from the inside. I think it’s more so that now people from the outside are paying more attention to it and seeing there’s a very, very good product being put out there by a lot of the teams in the world.
“In terms of the World Cup on the horizon at home, I myself have attended a World Cup as a scout. It puts you in a different position where you’re not a fan but you’re attending in a different capacity and walking the streets of France with the amount of fans and the pubs are packed, and there are people from all over the world to support their national teams.
“It’s a completely different experience which we’re going to be fortunate enough to have here in Australia.”
Blayney added: “It’s fantastic for the game overall. I go to a Matildas game and you see a lot of young girls who are present, who might be there with their dads, whose brothers are attending games.
“I think we’re engaging, not just females, but you’re seeing a lot of young men taking a genuine interest in the game. I work at a sports high school and we talk to the boys and they’ll come and ask me, ‘do you know Ellie Carpenter?’ That’s a fantastic space to be in that they know these players and they’re seen as just footballers.”
