Matildas forward made her debut in 2015 surrounded by players who would become teammates at World Cup.
It’s the very definition of familiar faces – a quintet of players who can trace the career of Cortnee Vine from A-Leagues debutant to World Cup flier.
As Vine vies for a place in the Matildas side to face France in a World Cup quarter-final on Saturday at Brisbane Stadium, she was reminded of her debut for Brisbane Roar in October 2015 – and the people around her.
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Remarkably, six members of the Australian squad were in the opposing squads the day Vine came off the bench for the Roar against Western Sydney: Ellie Carpenter and Teagan Micah were in the Wanderers’ XI, Clare Polkinghorne was Brisbane captain, plus Tameka Yallop (then Butt) and Katrina Gorry were in the Roar squad, though ruled out of the game through injury.
Nearly eight years later, all are teammates in a rather larger cause, as Tony Gustavsson’s squad bids to deliver the World Cup to an increasingly frenetic home audience.
Vine’s jaw visibly dropped when the faces from her debut were pointed out – so much has happened since.
“It would have been about 10 years ago now. I think that we all would have versed each other so it’s pretty surreal to be here with them all now playing at a Women’s World Cup on home soil,” she said. “It’s exciting and something I never thought would happen.
“Back then I was just happy to play in front of 100 people and make my debut for a club that I’d been pushing for.
“So now to be in a position where we’re playing in front of 75,000-plus people and with, what was it, 6.8m or whatever it was for the TV viewers, is just unbelievable for women’s sport and women’s football in general and for Australian football.”
The key thing though, for a player who made her name at Sydney FC and won the Liberty A-League just this last season, is the visibility effect – the way her performances, and those of her teammates, can encourage young fans to play at watch the game.
It was timely, with the launch of the Liberty A-League Pass for next season that allows U16s in to watch Australia’s elite women’s competition for free.
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“I hope that everyone gets around football after this tournament and the young ones want to come – whether that’s boys or girls – they want to come to watch the Liberty A-League and know that you can go from that league and become a world-stage player and play at this World Cup.
“A lot of us have been in the Liberty A League and that’s why we’re here today. A lot of our pathways are different and we’ve gone different ways, but I wouldn’t be here today without the Liberty A League.”
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