The ‘unspoken game amongst women’s football’

Red cards, late equalisers, a penalty shootout – and plenty of dramatic twists and turns. This was a game that had it all.

Meeting up for Matildas camp was an awkward occasion for players from both Brisbane Roar and Sydney FC in the aftermath of the infamous W-League Semi Final of 2012. 

A national camp followed the domestic Finals Series remembered for a Semi Final riddled with a multitude of flash-points between two great rivals, and after suffering the most bitter of defeats former Sky Blue Danielle Brogan was in no mood for pleasantries. 

And so, the game went unmentioned, as it largely has to this day – until this website broke open the vault.

Memories – of late equalisers, dubious offside calls, a broken moral code, red cards, coaches and players locked in grandstands culminating in a penalty shootout from which the Roar emerged victorious – come flooding back to the forefront of Brogan’s mind.

“As soon as I saw the name of the video I probably got a little bit of a hot flush,” Brogan said.

“Watching it back, I just sat there and thought ‘how did we get ourselves into that position?’ The game probably should’ve been over by half-time, to be honest. 

“I don’t really remember a game against Brisbane Roar where we probably had that many chances… It was tough watching it back, like I said I forgot how many chances we had.  It was probably our own fault at the end of the day that we didn’t make it into the Grand Final that year. 

“I remember the hostile feeling on the bus on the way back to the airport. There were players crying, there were players angry, there was a lot of emotion going on.

“It almost became a bit of an unspoken game.

“You then transition from the W-League straight to the Matildas, so then you’re there playing with those girls as teammates, and you need to quickly forget what goes on in those moments.

“There was a lot of raw emotion and it took some time, but it always gives you a reason in following seasons to get better, a little bit of fuel to add to the fire – not that I think we ever needed any. It was tough after, I definitely remember that.”

Brogan and the Sky Blues travelled to face the Roar, with the winner set to progress to the Grand Final.

Sydney fans, it’s not too late to stop reading. 

The visitors took the lead in the first-half through Renee Rollason, and proceeded to pepper Brisbane’s goal throughout the first half. Kyah Simon hit the woodwork, Leena Khamis went close and Roar keeper Casey Dumont came to the fore as Sydney battered the home side. 

Simon scored for Sydney in the second half, but a tight offside call came to Brisbane’s rescue. Brogan attests Simon couldn’t hear the whistle over the ferocious crowd as she put the ball into the back of the net, receiving a yellow card in the process.

Dumont tipped an almost certain Caitlin Foord goal around the post and the Roar hung on, remaining in touching distance until deep into additional time. 

Kylie Ledbrook went down injured in the 95th minute of play, and the away side put the ball out for the Sydney midfielder to receive treatment. Meanwhile, Brogan dropped toward the corner flag, anticipating the ball to be returned to her possession.

“That was a huge decision that weighed on me for a long time,” she said.

“If I had stayed in the middle of the park, could I have been there to stop that shot dropping? 

“As a team we collectively expected the ball back, and I think that’s what made this game so emotional for everyone for a long time to come. Different perceptions, I mean, it’s probably the old cricket days (with) the gentleman’s rule.

“I’m assuming they thought we were time-wasting with Kylie Ledbrook going down cramping. But yeah, that moment for me was a huge one that I haven’t been able to forget, just making that decision to drop off and get the ball and then not being where I should’ve been probably cost us a little bit.”

Brisbane retained possession and hurled the ball into the box. When it squirmed loose, a young Emily Gielnik lashed home the equaliser, and extra time beckoned.

That’s when it all began to unravel for the Sky Blues. 

A second Simon yellow for a committed challenge on Vedrana Popovic saw the Sydney forward dismissed, her head coach Alen Stajcic sent to the stands after an altercation between the two benches. 

“It was chaotic,” Brogan said. “There was a big commotion. We needed to settle back down again. But even after that we had more and more chances to seal the game regardless of being down to 10 [players] or Staj not being on the sidelines.

“It was Kyah and Staj (sent to) a room in the grandstand, I don’t even know what it was. They were just put there because you obviously had to be vacated from the perimeters of the field.

“With phones and technology you can get your message across anyway. I don’t know what was going on on the sideline in terms of messages back and forth. I just remember this room in the grandstand and him and Kyah being put in there, because they weren’t allowed around the team.”

Alen Stajcic attempts to approach the field after receiving a red card.

Despite the numerical disadvantage, the Sky Blues continued to craft chances to snare victory before the end of additional extra time. 

Dumont continued her other-worldly form in between the sticks but for one moment, when the Roar stopper was at the complete mercy of Sydney striker Foord. Her first-time strike from a cutback cross somehow diverted around the wrong side of the post from inside the six-yard box.

At the end of 120 minutes, Sydney had shot nine more times (25) than Brisbane (16), put six more shots (eight) on target than the Roar (two) and played 13 more balls into the box than their opposition (38 to 25).

Of course, by the cruel nature of the game, the dominant side would go on to lose in a shootout. 

Brogan scored her attempt but Teresa Polias and Estelle Johnson missed theirs, leaving Aivi Luik to strike the stake through the heart and send Brisbane to the Grand Final.

“We play sport for the trophies, for the friendships and for the travel,” Brogan said. “We were so lucky, we had a great team over the years in the W-League and Sydney FC is still so successful, but those emotions, I don’t think you can ever explain what it’s like to be in that moment, particularly when there might be some controversy.

“It took us a long time after that to deal with the emotions, a lot of us hadn’t been involved in so many different and key moments in a game. But you learn from it, it obviously makes you better and you transfer that into life.

“If there was one game to come to mind, that would have to be probably one of the pinnacles that I’ve been involved in. I mean, I guess it had everything. 

“We look at the neutral (perspective), and would the media have loved that to be the Grand Final? 

“I just think it was such a spectacle that it will go down in history, and it’s probably one of the greatest games that the W-League has produced. I know we had many clashes against Brisbane even within the season, do-or-die games that were high intensity, and we always felt like it was a Grand Final against them. That would definitely be the top of the range, I think.

“I’m pretty sure our next Matildas camp we had together, it was like everyone looked at each other and (said) ‘let’s not talk about it’.

“If we’re being honest, the emotion is probably still there if it was ever brought up again, but you’re in high pressure situations and you make your own decisions. We thought the decision was going one way and they obviously thought the other. It just didn’t favour us. 

“It’s the unspoken (game) amongst women’s football I think.”