Queens Park in Warwick was awash with green and gold on Saturday morning as the Warwick Wolves Soccer Club showed their support for the Matildas with a “Tutu’s for Tillies” day ahead of the National side’s World Cup Quarter Final against France at Suncorp Stadium that night.
Record numbers of viewers across Australia tuned in to watch the Matildas qualify for their first World Cup semi-final and although a large contingent from the club was in Brisbane to watch the big game, including club president Dom Benz, there were still more than a hundred Wolves back at Queens Park on Saturday night to watch a livestream of the match.
The club has been right behind the women’s side during their campaign with a barbecue for the Matildas’ final preliminary game against Canada attracting 20-25 players, despite being held on a cold Monday night. But according to president Dom – the Tutu day was next level.
“There were heaps of Tutus – heaps of dress-ups, heaps of just make-up and hair colouring, it was just awesome,” he said of the Tutu’s for Tillies day on Saturday morning.
“The Matilda’s have spurred on a heap of excitement and as a club, we are definitely hoping to capitalise on that enthusiasm. We are coming into what is usually our off season, but we have a few things in the pipeline that might see us do some things through summer to keep the momentum going.
“We have had a lot of enquiries since the World Cup started, especially from the female participants coming through. We are keeping our fingers crossed we will have a senior women’s team back next year. We’re talking about trying do something with it now, while we’ve got the momentum, capitalising on that.
Dom said he couldn’t give specific numbers of attendance for the Queens Park viewing since he was at the game himself but would estimate around a hundred and is expecting similar numbers for Wednesday and Saturday.
The Matildas and the Women’s World Cup have created a long-lasting legacy.
