For one night, Australia held its collective breath.
Live sites across the nation were full to bursting. Punters packed into pubs decked in green and gold, anxiously clasping pints.
Melbourne opened its stadiums to tens of thousands of fans. At Australian rules and rugby league matches, supporters watched the penalty shootout on their phones or even on big screens, set up in an unprecedented gesture that broke decades of hostility and suspicion from Australia’s dominant football codes towards the round-ball game.
Even on aeroplanes, every screen was glued to the game.
Roosters v Dolphins pic.twitter.com/h99LeViSbj
— Michael Giardina (@M_Giardina_13) August 12, 2023
When Cortnee Vine scored with the 20th penalty of an excruciating shootout, sending the Matildas into the semi-final of the World Cup for the first time, she had the backing of the entire nation.
After more than two hours of blistering anxiety, the crowds gathered in every corner of the nation, from tiny regional towns to Sydney’s Darling Harbour, leapt to their feet, lifting lovers and children into the air. Tears flowed.
From a Coonabarabran pub pic.twitter.com/7hSQe0p4xx
— jazz (@opinionatedleft) August 12, 2023
Those lucky enough to be in the almost 50,000-strong sell-out crowd at Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium thundered in delight.
A child screamed with glee as beloved striker Sam Kerr whipped off her shirt and passed it to her in the stands.
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, took to the pitch in his Matildas scarf, grinning like a Cheshire cat, with the minister for sport, Anika Wells, visibly crying beside him.
Hours earlier, he had set an ultimatum to the French president, Emmanuel Macron.
“How about a bet?” he jested. “If the Matildas win tonight, you’ll support Australia in the semi-finals. If the Equipe de France win, I’ll support France. Deal?”
On Sunday morning, it was done. “Nothing personal against our English friends, but a bet is a bet,” Macron wrote. “Good luck Australia for the semi-finals!”
It was by many measurements the biggest sporting moment in Australia’s history.
The TV broadcast on Channel Seven was viewed by an average audience of 4.23 million Australians, according to figures from rating agency OzTAM.
Only Cathy Freeman’s gold medal at the 2000 Sydney Olympics has so collectively gripped the nation.
Nearly 70,000 fans were at the MCG to see a crucial match between Carlton and Melbourne, with the AFL season in its final weeks.
But as the Matildas game reached its long drawn out conclusion, they were packed into the members’ bar, watching the penalty shootout on TV. AFL could wait. You didn’t want to miss this moment.
At the MCG prior to the Melbourne vs Carlton AFL March. We totally missed the the first quarter but it was so worth it! We love you #Matildas !! 💛💚 pic.twitter.com/KlZR3YdzSb
— Jane Moroney (@janeocrawford) August 12, 2023
Footage showed fans leaping in the air, spraying beers over the delighted crowd, men hugging each other as though they had just won a premiership.
The wheelchair tennis champion Dylan Alcott, named Australian of the year in 2022, who was at the MCG, joked that the elation at the shootout victory was “the closest I’ve ever been to standing up”.
My god that was the closest I’ve ever been to standing up. @TheMatildas UNBELIEVABLE effort 💛💚 MCG going off #matildas #AUSFRA pic.twitter.com/BNLU6FAFx8
— Dylan Alcott (@DylanAlcott) August 12, 2023
One pizza delivery man wrote that his evening’s work allowed him to witness “something I could only ever dream of”.
“Every single tv tonight … had the Matildas playing. Through windows of houses I went past, through open doors I look through, and every tv at the leagues club.”
Footage of the MCG or live sites, or that one aeroplane, or whatever else are all well and good, but when it comes to proof of the Matildas mania sweeping the nation I will take the testimony of this pizza delivery guy as the most compelling #FIFAWWC pic.twitter.com/o3HdkjhJer
— Evan Morgan Grahame (@Evan_M_G) August 13, 2023
The collective delirium was on every front page in the country on Sunday morning, plastered with headlines nodding to the vanquished French: “Voilà”, “Invincible” and “Magnifique”.
Those who hadn’t already got Matildas tattoos were frantically searching the internet for places they could walk in to have “Vine” inscribed on their bodies.
There are growing calls for a public holiday to commemorate the significance of the day.
Serious questions remain about the legacy of the Matildas’ triumphant progress.
Vine is one of the few in the Matildas’ 23-strong side who plays in the local A-League, a competition that is historically underfunded and very modestly attended.
There is no doubt that many feel Australia as a nation has changed in potentially profound ways in the past weeks.
How it comes to terms with the unbelievable momentum that has gathered for women’s sport and football will be the real next test.
