It’s official. The Matildas are shortly turning into Australia’s favorite sporting workforce.
They captured our hearts and minds on a fairytale run to the semi-finals on the girls’s World Cup, going additional than any Australian workforce, male or feminine, has gone earlier than.
The historic match shattered TV rankings information and emptied sporting shops of Matildas merchandise as Australia rallied across the Tillies.
Sam Kerr mentioned she wished her Cathy Freeman second and she or he acquired it, blowing the roof off the identical stadium Freeman gained Olympic gold in with an absurd bomb of a purpose from outdoors the field within the semi-final in opposition to England.
Now, survey outcomes from news.com.au’s readers and TAB present the Matildas are closing in to Australia’s cricketers as our favorite nationwide sporting workforce.
Asked who Australia’s greatest nationwide workforce is, our cricket groups drew 31.2 per cent of votes, forward of the Matildas (22.8 per cent), rugby league’s Kangaroos (16.7 per cent), the Australian Dolphins swim workforce (10.3 per cent), netball’s Diamonds (9 per cent) and the Socceroos (6.4 per cent).
Only 1.8 per cent voted for the Wallabies, in a outstanding outcome symbolic of the workforce’s fall from grace since these dishevelled gold jerseys had been the toast of the nation on the flip of the century.
The Wallabies have been in dire kind heading into this month’s Rugby World Cup in France, and at this price will probably be an enormous success to beat Wales and Fiji to only make the quarterfinals.
The distinction within the change in fortunes of the Wallabies and the Matildas over the past 10 years couldn’t be extra stark.
Mark Crowe from Brand Finance Australia instructed news.com.au the Matildas’ model worth is now price as much as $210 million and the workforce is nicely on the best way to “becoming an iconic Australian brand”.
“In terms of brand value, we estimated the Matildas’ brand coming into the World Cup would be worth $40-45 million,” Crowe mentioned.
“With the opportunities generated as a result of the World Cup and the Matildas’ brand strengthening, there is very much the possibility of their brand value rising to between $175 million up to $210 leading up to the next World Cup.
“Obviously post the World Cup, there is enormous upside for the Matildas.
“That now gives them the opportunity to boost their brand value in the lead up to the next World Cup as they go through their negotiation cycles of sponsorship rights, media rights and merchandise. And the opportunity for them to generate much higher revenue from matchday attendance.
“It’s fair to say there’s enormous upside across those assets for the Matildas.
“You’re talking about a brand that has gone from having to play behind closed doors because they couldn’t afford to open a stadium to where they now have the record for the largest TV audience ever in Australia and it’s unlikely to be broken in the foreseeable future
“That’s an incredible turnaround over a few years.
“The Matildas brand is transcending just a game of football and becoming an iconic Australian brand, which generates enormous goodwill and favourable perceptions.
“Not just the performance on the field but the way they’ve engaged with and won over the public and the way they come across, means the opportunity for the brand goes well beyond when they’re playing in a game.”
Other survey outcomes confirmed readers believed AFL (Australian Rules) is Australia’s nationwide sport, forward of cricket, rugby league and soccer.
AFL dominated the outcomes, topping the listing for the game with the perfect in-person environment (38 per cent) and the game with probably the most passionate followers.
Soccer rated second behind AFL in each these classes, forward of rugby league in an indication there’s a sturdy fanbase for the game in Australia.
The truth the Matildas and soccer characteristic so excessive on these outcomes and the success of the FIFA World Cup, proved that Australia is a footballing nation.
It’s hoped the success of the Matildas will spark larger crowds and extra curiosity at A-League and W-League video games, particularly since followers will get to see the likes of Clare Hunt and Cortnee Vine up shut.
And you gained’t want to attend too lengthy to see the Matildas play once more.
They will likely be again in motion in Perth in late October for 3 Asian Qualifiers in opposition to Chinese Taipei, the Philippines and Iran as they purpose to ebook their spot at subsequent 12 months’s Paris Olympics.
Source: www.news.com.au
