Matildas defenders Ellie Carpenter (left) and Clare Hunt.
One of the region’s best junior coaches,Glenn Stedman,was first introduced to Carpenter when he was watching a kid with long,blonde hair scoring goals at a junior development day in Orange. He wanted to find out more about the speedy striker,and approached the child’s mother after a game.
“I thought,‘yeah,fantastic. I’ve got to go see that girl’. I went and talked to mum[Belinda] and she said,‘oh no,that’s[Ellie’s older brother] Jeremy’. His hair was halfway down his back! But that’s when I first met Ellie and then we kept in touch and monitored her. We eventually got her into a program and the rest was history.
“Now,we’ve just started a development program in Orange for girls and some of the looks on kids’ faces when you say,‘have you watched the World Cup?’ They say,‘yeah,how good are they?’ I say,‘you’ve got one thing in common with Ellie Carpenter and Clare Hunt’. They say,‘what’s that?’ We say,‘you’re training on the same pitch they’re training on’. You should see the look on the kids’ faces.
“Ellie and Clare don’t forget where they came from. We need to get on the bandwagon and not lose momentum.”
Carpenter and Hunt at Matildas training before the World Cup quarter-final.Credit:Football Australia
Young’s Jim Glasheen was another who would hone the girls’ skill from a young age at weekly development sessions.
He was responsible for starting the town’s first all-girls team in 2002 to provide a pathway for his daughter and her friends,and also helped Test cricketer Nathan Lyon learn the art of soccer and being a junior referee.
“That’s one thing you can always say about country kids,they’ve got good families behind them and they’ve got plenty of support,” Glasheen says.
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“There are a lot of kids out here who should probably go to the next level,but don’t have the funding. I’m just so proud of these two girls and I hope there’s more to come.
“And there are more Matildas out here,don’t worry.”
withVince Rugari and Emma Kemp.