(The Matildas, our national team)

This paper discusses the historical developments of Women’s football in Australia. It shows how the Australian Women’s football team, known as the Matildas, came from a very low position in the Australian society’s gender order and, by breaking sporting gender barriers, has become one, if not the most iconic sporting teams in the Australian sports landscape. By using a historiography approach, the paper evidences the unbalance in gender relations in every single sphere of the society, and in particular within the sporting landscape. It finishes by arguing that the actual Matildas’ players emulate their team’s nickname, by walking across continents as ‘swag women’ to earn their wages through their footballing activities