Sally Shipard, Phoenix Rising

The Football Sack caught up with the best smile in the Australian game, Matilda Sally Shipard.

This year Sally is playing in the W-League for Canberra United. She was to play last season but got caught up in some off-field tackling. Sally was in Spain and verbally agreed to play Futsal. Sally returned to Australia to watch her younger brother compete for Australia in a triathlon and was offered a contract with the Green Machine. There was an agreement with her Spanish club that if she was offered a football opportunity she could take that up but when Canberra offered her a place the Spanish Futsal club said no.

"[Suddenly] our relationship was not so pretty. The fact it was a verbal agreement to have such trouble over it..." Shipard stated.


The matter ended in court with the FIFA judge ruled in the player's favour.

"The lesson to be learnt is to be careful to what you agree to, even verbally. It really tested if I wanted to play football but I’m really glad I stuck with it. It was tough sitting on the sidelines for a whole season but the Canberra girls held their own and I can take so many positives of being over in Spain, I don’t dwell on the negatives" she said.


We spoke to Australian Matilda Coach Tom Sermanni, who was praising in his assessment of Shipard.

"It’s good to have Sally back. The great thing about Sally is she’s going as strong at the end of the game as the start. As other players start to fade Sally steps up and becomes more dominant. The other great thing about Sally on the park or off the park is she has such enthusiasm, that ability to lift the group. It’s a great quality she’s got" he said.


Sally seems happy to be back in Australia playing the outdoor game;

"I am enjoying myself out there. A lot of running around. They are all your mates, that’s the best thing playing W-League. But we are all competitive, so now I’m glad to be out there this year" she stated.


So, other than Australia who are your top four for the Women’s World Cup next year?

"Germany - DPR Korea - Nigeria - Brasil. The Europeans struggle a lot with the Asian teams, DPR Korea will be red hot come next year."

And Tom Sermani’s top four?

"Germany - Japan - DPR Korea - Brasil."

No United States?

"I’m not convinced about them. They have lost a little bit of their invincibility. Saying that, they are a team that manages to get results even if they are not the best team, so always dangerous but they are in a tough physical group next year."

The Football Sack would like to thank both Sally and Tom for their time.

Image courtesy: Nick Guoth