By CAITLIN CROWLEY
THE South West Queensland Thunder senior women’s team will follow in the footsteps of the mighty Matildas this weekend when they run out onto Suncorp Stadium with the chance to make history.
After languishing at the bottom of the Football Queensland Premier League 1 (FQPL 1) ladder in recent years, the Darling Downs’ side is just one win away from a fairytale finish to their best ever season in the competition.
A stunning 5-0 win over Broadbeach in their semi-final clash last weekend secured their grand final spot against Brisbane City, and the groundswell of community support which has been building all season has reached fever pitch.
“There’s been so much excitement, not just within the team but also within the club – there’s been massive support behind us,” Vice Captain Jess Fry (pictured below) told the Caller.
“We’ve never wanted to win a game so badly because what a year. If we can pull it off – what a year and what a stadium to do it at.
“The amount of people who have already bought tickets to head down to Brisbane on a Sunday is unreal from what we’ve heard, so we’re really excited.
“We’re playing on the same field where four weeks ago the Matildas were winning the quarter final.
“We’ve got a lot of pride in representing our region so we want to show what the Darling Downs has to offer.
“Within our team there’s probably about five of us who have been around for 8-10 years within the club – so for those of us who have been there through the highs and the lows when we weren’t doing so well, to have this amazing year with a really really good group of girls, not just on the field but they’re such a delight to play with – it just feels like a reward for all those years of hard work and sticking with it.”
WATCH: MP David Janetski’s SWQ Thunder tribute in Queensland Parliament
Just as the Matildas ignited a green and gold army of supporters nationwide during the World Cup, support for the SWQ Thunder women has been coming from all corners of the community – even receiving a shoutout in Queensland Parliament from Toowoomba South MP David Janetzki.
Toowoomba Mayor Geoff McDonald said it was fantastic to see the SWQ Thunder had their own chance to create history after what was an amazing women’s soccer world cup in Australia.
“It is fantastic to see yet another sporting tea from this region represent us on the big stage and I’m sure many supporters from Toowoomba and across the Darling Downs will make the trip to Suncorp on Sunday,” McDonald said.
Captain Mel Lloyd told the Caller the side had exceeded everyone’s expectations, except for the players themselves.
“We’re actually not surprised with where we are at because we knew from the get go how strong of a team we were going to be this year,” Lloyd said.
“Obviously the Matidlas doing so well this year has just made the sport explode and I think we’ll see heaps of numbers next year, but it’s also sort of coincided with how well we’ve done this year.
“We’ve never experienced something like this – the support has been overwhelming.
“I think pretty much the majority of the competition is going for us – everyone wants us to beat Brisbane City and we’ve got heaps of supporters coming down.
“What we’ve done this season, I think it will be hard to top. Going from where we were last season to now has been such a huge turnaround.”
Lloyd, who sits alongside Jess Fry on the SWQ Thunder Board, said the club worked hard internally to build a positive culture within the girls program this year.
Senior women were partnered with Under13s and 15s as part of a mentoring program which saw players showing up to support each other at games all season.
“That’s definitely going to keep them around for the next few years,” Lloyd said.
“That’s been a gamechanger for them – in terms of keeping them around in the sport, knowing they’ve got the support of the senior women.”
Jess Fry said the club had hoped the FIFA Women’s World Cup would raise the profile of football at its grassroots, but that no one could have expected the impact the Matildas’ success would have.
“Not just on female football but also putting female football on the map in terms of guys being interested as well,” she said.
“You’re seeing little boys in book stores asking for Sam Kerr’s book or dressing up as Sam Kerr for Book Week.
“That’s stuff that’s never happened before, even on a local level a couple of weeks ago when the Matildas were doing really well, we had mascot boys walk out with us for the first time ever, in ten years they wanted to run out with the womens’ team.”
The SWQ Thunder’s senior women will be running a special, all-abilities program next term in a bid to capitalise on the interest generated by the World Cup.
Kick-off for this weekend’s FQPL 1 Final is 1.30pm at Suncorp Stadium.