Australia’s leading football associations and athletes across the board are rallying behind the Matildas after a radio host’s extremely gross rant this week, in which he minimised women’s sport and compared the athletes to “Year 10 girls.”
Football Australia responded strongly, calling out the “unacceptable comments” made by Triple M radio host Marty Sheargold on-air that diminish the team’s significant influence on Australian sport and a new generation of players.
“Such remarks not only diminish the extraordinary achievements and contributions of our women’s national football team but also fail to recognise the profound impact they have had on Australian sport and society,” the organisation said in a statement on Wednesday.
The Tillies, it pointed out, have inspired young Australians across the spectrum who “now see a future for themselves in football and sport more broadly”.
“[The Matildas] have broken barriers, set new standards, and elevated the game to unprecedented heights. Their success has been instrumental in transforming women’s sport in Australia, and they deserve to be covered with the respect and professionalism they have earned,” it said.
Speaking on-air earlier this week, Sheargold made a number of ill-considered comments regarding the team, quipping there’s “something wrong with the Matildas”.
“They had that wonderful tournament out here where we all fell in love with them,” he told fellow program hosts Troy Ellis and Will Ralston, referencing the team’s 2023 World Cup campaign in which they made the semifinals (although Sheargold wrongly claimed they “didn’t make the quarters”).
Sheargold further remarked they reminded him of “Year 10 girls”, accompanied by laughter in the background.
“All the infighting and all the friendship issues, ‘the coach hates me and I hate bloody training and Michelle’s being a bitch’,” he said.
Oh, it gets worse from here.
When it was pointed out we’re around a year out from Australia hosting the Women’s Asian Cup — taking place from March 1, 2026 to March 21, 2026 — Sheargold groaned in response.
“Oh god. The Asian Cup. I’d rather hammer a nail through the head of my penis than watch that,” he said. “Got any men’s sport?”
The radio host has since issued an apology for his shocking remarks, blaming it on comedy that “miss[ed] the mark”.
“I can see why people may have taken offence to my comments regarding the Matildas. I sincerely apologise,” he said in a statement on Wednesday.
Additionally, radio network Triple M said it “remains steadfast in its strong support of all women’s and men’s sports” and apologised for any offence caused.
Football Australia acknowledged the public apologies but emphasised it’s so important for the media and media personalities to foster respectful and constructive dialogue when it comes to women’s sport and the athletes.
The organisation continued that all female athletes deserve to be covered with the same level of professionalism and respect afforded to their male counterparts.
Professional Footballers Australia (PFA) came down hard and labelled the comments “disgusting, pathetic and deeply misogynistic”.
“To diminish [the Matildas’] achievements — or women’s sport more broadly — is not just insulting but shows a fundamental misunderstanding of the importance of our sport in this country,” remarked PFA chief executive Beau Busch.
“This type of commentary panders to the worst kind of women-haters, clinging to outdated stereotypes instead of engaging with the sport on its merits.”
Rather than lifting up the impressive and inspirational athletes, Sheargold opted to “drag women’s sport down with cheap and backward rhetoric”, Busch added.
What have the Matildas said?
A number of other athletes have come out in support for the Australian national soccer team, with Sheargold’s comments called out by Hockeyroo Rosie Malone in an Instagram post on Wednesday.
Several Matildas players weighed in, with midfielder Alex Chidiac commenting she’s “so sick of this shit” and “full of rage” while her Tillies teammate Clare Wheeler pointed out sport “is for everyone and these views are for no one”.
The Instagram post has garnered over 1,700 comments thus far, including shows of support from retired Olympic swimmer Libby Trickett, boxer Caitlyn Parker, former basketball player Lauren Jackson, and Hockeyroo Savannah Fitzpatrick, who said she’s “sick to her core”.
“There is no way he can keep his job. It’s so hard to believe this wasn’t AI-generated from searching ‘voice of a misogynistic creature living in 1950 who’s never played sport in his life’,” Fitzpatrick said.
As reported by the Sydney Morning Herald, the Matildas’ interim coach Tom Sermanni condemned the remarks as “completely unnecessary and generally outrageous”.
Speaking ahead of the Matildas’ final game in the SheBelieves Cup in the US, he said: “As sporting teams, we’re used to criticisms – but sometimes the comments cross the line and that one certainly did cross the line.”
He described it “very disappointing” behaviour, adding: “For me, it’s not so much about sexism and misogyny, in a sense – although that’s unacceptable, let me make that clear. It’s kind of what the comments were.
“Our team is obviously a very high-profile team and being a very high-profile team you do take criticism, and you do create criticism sometimes very near the edge. But sometimes that just goes over the edge, and those comments did that.”
Per the publication, Federal Sports Minister Anika Wells also called Sheargold’s comments “boorish, boring, wrong” and highlighted the significant strides women’s sport has made in the country.
She observed Australia’s most watched television event ever was the Matildas’ World Cup semi-final while the Tillies’ quarter-final is the second most watched event in Australian history.
“Ash Barty’s Australian Open win and Cathy Freeman’s Sydney gold are in our top five, too,” she said.
You’d think the Matildas’ legacy has already been firmly cemented, but this week’s comments highlight the troubling need for greater respect and recognition of the badass women in sport. Go Tillies!!
Lead image: Getty Images
