Under 10 girls join Kanga Cup action for first time
They want to be one of the Matildas players such as Caitlin Munoz or Ellie Brush, and are part of the fastest growing area in Australian soccer. And this year the girls have turned out in record numbers in the 2009 McDonald’s Kanga Cup.
49 girls teams kicked off in the 19th edition of the McDonald’s Kanga Cup yesterday, and for the first time there are teams across every age-group, from the brand new under-10s to under-18s.
It’s a change from the very first year of the McDonald’s Kanga Cup in 1993, when there was just one junior women’s division – the under-19s.
In years since, most girls competitions have had just four age-groups.
But in the past three years the number of girls has doubled – leading into a bumper 2009.
This year every age-group, from under-10s to under 18s, has teams fighting it out for McDonald’s Kanga Cup titles.
An under-10s boys division started last year, but not enough teams entered the girls to start both at the same time. But this year two ACT clubs, Woden Valley junior soccer club and Monaro Soccer club, entered teams.
Woden entered two and Monaro one – just enough to stage the inaugural under- 10s girls.
Yesterday the Woden Valley Wanderers met the Monaro Matildas in the first girls under-10 game in McDonald’s Kanga Cup history.
The Matildas jumped ahead to an early 1-0 lead and then held on to win 3-1 and record the first under- 10s result.
Tim Gore, who is co-coach of the Woden Wanderers under-10s team, helped to set up the girls competitions at Woden and said it was great to have the girls participation starting to flow onto the McDonald’s Kanga Cup.
‘‘When my daughter, Bella, started playing six years ago there wasn’t any girls-only competitions, so I started to put some together some teams and now we have quadrupled the number of girls playing [at Woden],’’ Gore said.
‘‘It’s great because we do have some really talented players that do still play with the boys, which is good for their development, but for most of these girls if they hadn’t been able to play in a girls competition then they might not have stayed with soccer, they might have played another sport.’’
Monaro team manager Sam Risteska also said it was important to give girls the chance to play against other girls.
Risteska’s daughter Gabi, 10, is in a coaching academy team and plays with and against boys there, like some of the Woden players in the opposition yesterday.
But Risteska said that the chance to play against other girls took the pressure off.
‘‘Playing against the boys I think it does make them tougher, the boys play differently, but playing with girls gives them the chance to play for fun,’’ she said.
The other aspect Monaro was looking forward to was playing for points.
Capital Football’s junior competitions don’t play for points until under-13s, so the McDonald’s Kanga Cup adds something different to the season.
‘‘They don’t play competition during the year, so it’s exciting just to have something new and different,’’ she said.
‘‘If they hadn’t put in an under-10s, we would have entered in under-11s.
‘‘My daughter was just obsessed with Canberra United [in the W-League] last year, it’s great that they have something to aim for.’’
Tournament chair Rachel Harrigan said it was a reflection of the strong national focus on women’s football.
Last year Canberra United were part of the new women’s national soccer league, which helped to create a national pathway in women’s soccer.
‘‘I think certainly the W-League has helped, now that there is role models there and that it is OK for girls to play footy,’’ Harrigan said.
‘‘Playing against your own gender is important as it means that issue isn’t there, they are just among their peers and can focus on having a good time.’’