Australia’s OG First Nations sporting icon had followed the national team throughout the beautiful mania that was 2023,and had been hoping to get to a game. Within hours,the governing body had booked her a flight to Sydney so she could attend Monday night’s second friendly against China.
And really,the actual football was the supporting act to the lead role playing what might well be Williams’ final outing for a side she has spent 19 years moulding into her image that will endure long after she officially bids farewell following the Paris Olympics.
It started in the warm-up,when her teammates ran out at Accor Stadium wearing ‘Thank you Lyds’ shirts,and continued as the teams lined up for the Welcome to Country and national anthems,when Goolagong Cawley appeared out of nowhere and wrapped a Booka around Williams’ shoulders.
Made from the skins of four kangaroos – Williams’s totem – this Booka features panels depicting her childhood in Katanning,Western Australia and her international career,along with crow footprints and river rocks symbolising her late father Ron Williams,one of Australia’s most respected Aboriginal elders. Overall,the animal skin cloak represents all that is important to the 36-year-old.
Evonne Goolagong Cawley presents Lydia Williams with her Booka pre-match.Getty
FA had it made by artist Lea Taylor,a Bibbulmun (Noongar) yorga who has a connection to the Williams family,following detailed secret discussions with the goalkeeper’s mother Diana. Preparing the skins for the Booka is said to be women’s business. On the pitch it was a gift from a Wiradjuri woman to a Noongar woman,as Goolagong Cawley hugged Williams. For the latter,“was probably the moment that tipped me over emotion wise”.
“I don’t know if it was game recognising game,” Williams said to laughs. “No,but it was a lovely moment. I think a lot of sporting women in Australia just want to leave the game better than when they first arrived in it,and don’t really probably realise the impact of how they have shaped the culture of not only women’s sport but just Australian sport.
“To receive that from such an icon - a legend of tennis - is just absolutely,really humbling. An Indigenous woman that’s represented the country and her culture and done so much.”
Williams shares a moment with Mackenzie Arnold.Getty
Behind them was the Cathy Freeman stand. It was,as Williams had observed the day before,“a closing of the circle”. The starting XI left their spot in the line to stand with her as a tribute video played,and then she took her place in the Matildas’ goal for the 104th time.
It felt fitting that Williams started this match,and that she wore the captain’s armband. Equally so that she was involved within the first minute - even if only because of an early Chinese attack. Her every touch of the ball thereafter - in the end she was rarely needed - engendered a cheer from the 76,798 in attendance. It is the largest crowd the Matildas have played in front of to date - more than the maximum 75,784 able to be squeezed into this venue during last year’s World Cup.
That felt fitting,too. Officially,this 2-0 win was an Olympics farewell game. A chance for Australia to watch the Matildas play one last time before they head to Paris,and a chance for coach Tony Gustavsson to get one last look at his players before naming his 18-player squad on Tuesday morning.
As it turned out,the players had already been told whether they were in or out before they’d even made it to the stadium,which made the unofficial elements more significant still. Gustavsson subbed Williams off just before half-time,to round applause from all quarters and hugs from teammates. She saved the biggest for Mackenzie Arnold - her literal and figurative replacement,on the touchline tonight and as Australia’s first-choice goalkeeper into the future.
The rest was as Gustavsson had promised:more energised,aggressive and dynamic than Friday’s 1-1 draw with China at Adelaide Oval. As expected,Caitlin Foord was rested as precaution following a hamstring-injury scare three days before. And as expected,the other big guns were back. Steph Catley,Ellie Carpenter,Hayley Raso and Kyra Cooney-Cross all started,and Clare Wheeler was introduced in time to score a 48th-minute banger from a header off a free-kick.
That opened the scoring,and Raso doubled the lead in the 56th. But it was Cortnee Vine’s assist that stole the limelight - a through ball of beauty to rival them all. Gustavsson’s selection decisions here alone suggest both Wheeler and Vine appear likely to be on the plane to the Olympics.
Vine’s positioning,in particular,felt like a clue. Gustavsson deployed the winger out of position as a striker,suggesting he is testing out a back-up plan for Michelle Heyman - his only available centre-forward for the tournament due to a glut of injuries including that of Sam Kerr.
“Yeah,and also two very different player types with Michelle being more of a back-to-goal nine and a strong aerial presence in the box,and Vine being more of a runner in behind with pace,” Gustavsson said.
“And with the amount of wide options that we have now with[Kaitlyn] Torpey playing wide in a good way as well,like she did against Uzbekistan and coming in today. Mary can play wide on both sides. Caitlin[Foord] can play wide. We have a lot of wide options … but we have a little bit lack of depth in the nine position.”
The Matildas celebrate Hayley Raso’s second-half goal in front of a record crowd.Getty
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