It’s called the Matildas bounce – the surge of women spurred on by last year’s FIFA Women’s World Cup frenzy, who are signing up to join a soccer team. Nine months on from that national hysteria, the trend continues with the Tigers Football Club – which traces its history back to Cooma in 1952 – introducing its first under-14s girls team.

Up until now, the Tigers Football Club has only fielded teams for men and boys. The 2024 season sees the launch of a new Tigers U14s Girls team in Capital Football’s Junior League Girls Division 1 competition for the very first time.

Let’s hope they can follow in the footsteps of the Matildas, who’s very first Australian women’s team was established in 1978to take part in the first World Women’s Invitational Tournament in Chinese Taipei. Look at them now.

Tigers Football Club manager, Maddie Sinclair, said the Women’s World Cup had done “absolute wonders for girls in the sport”.

“When the Women’s World Cup happened, it was such a resounding success and the whole nation was so excited about it,” Maddie said. “I said to the club, right we need to do it now. Let’s take that Matilda’s bounce and let’s run with it. Our time is right now, let’s start and don’t waste this opportunity. Let’s build from there.”

To continue the momentum of the Matildas, Canberra United stars Michelle Heyman, Nicki Flannery, Sasha Grove and Emma Ilijoski helped to inspire the newest generation of soccer players by meeting members of the first-ever Tigers FC girls’ team to celebrate Female Football Week.

The Tigers FC U14s Girls team met Michelle, Nicki, Sasha and Emma just prior to the women’s training session at the Australian Institute of Sport. The women are currently training with the Tigers FC National Premier League Men’s First Grade team.

Matilda and Canberra United captain, Michelle Heyman, was thrilled to take part in such a historic Female Football Week activity with the Tigers FC girls.

“We’re really excited that Tigers FC have got their first girls’ team off the ground. It was so lovely to meet them all and we’d love to see the girls on the field as future Canberra United and Matildas players in years to come,” she said.

The Tigers FC will be holding player trials for both boys and girls for the 2025 season in October 2024. For information on trial dates, follow Tigers FC on Facebook and Instagram.