Even before they punched their ticket to the semi-finals with a historic (and bloody tense) penalty shoot-out victory against France this weekend, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has been hinting at the possibility of declaring a public holiday for Australia should the Matildas win the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
“Then they go into a semi-final on Wednesday, which happens to be the day of [national cabinet],” Mr Albanese noted just last week while in conversation with the ABC.
“So certainly, I’ll be raising with all the premiers and chief ministers, seeking their views on the potential to have a day off.”
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NSW Premier Chris Minns, on the other hand, has all but assured a day off for the state should our girls in gold get up.
“We’d love to back the Matildas with a public holiday,” he told 4GB, before echoing sentiments similar to that of the PM.
“We’ll work with the other states and the Commonwealth to get the right date. It’s going to be raised at national cabinet next week.”
But would you believe not everybody is on board with the public holiday hype train?
National Party leader David Littleproud, for one, has firmly opposed the entire notion while insisting he doesn’t want to be “Captain Killjoy on this.”
“I think business has a point here,” Littleproud explained during his appearance on ABC’s Insiders program (via The Guardian).
“I think we’ve just got to understand that someone’s got to foot that bill and businesses out there are doing it tough.”
“We live in a great nation — we can celebrate our wins — but we have to get on and pay the bills and make sure that the country keeps going.”
“It’s easy to call for a national holiday when someone else is paying for it.”
And at the very centre of this with perhaps the most level-headed take out of the bunch is Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews: “Let’s not jinx this, let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”
The Matildas face a formidable side in England’s Lionesses who, despite not being a full strength due to some of its key players’ long-term injuries and the suspension of rising star Lauren James, has yet to concede a single match this entire tournament.
With former Dutch international Sarina Wiegman at the helm (one of the most successful managers in women’s football history), they’ve been incredibly strategic throughout their journey to the final four; culminating in the 2-1 defeat of Colombia on the very same night Australia made the cut.
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But there’s something to be said about this ongoing run of the Matilda’s magic.
Not only has our homegrown side, led by Tony Gustavsson, recently ended the European champions’ 30-game win streak during a friendly match hosted at Brentford. But with names like Sam Kerr, Hayley Raso, Mary Fowler, Caitlin Foord, Kyra Cooney-Cross, Cortnee Vine, Katrina Gorry, Ellie Carpenter, Clare Hunt, Mackenzie Arnold, and more representing our sunburnt nation… this is the best chance we’ll ever get.
The Matildas will face England this Wednesday at Sydney’s Stadium Australia, which is also scheduled to host the final — kick-off time: 8 PM [AEST]. Assuming they get the job done (knock on wood), they’ll contest for a chance to hoist the gilded trophy against either Spain or Sweden.
#TillItsDone
