Thea Slatyer: Introduction

I first started playing football at age five. I was in kindergarten and the boys in year one were kicking around a tennis ball on the playground and were short a player. One of them saw me standing and watching and asked if I wanted to play. I did and soon after that my mother enrolled me in the school team. I was hooked.


I made the senior state team at age 15 and got to play with Matildas legends like Julie Murray. From there I made selection as vice captain in the first ever young Matildas team that went to the inaugural U-19 Women's FIFA World Cup in Canada 2002. After the tournament I was selected in the senior Australian Women's national team, the 119th player to wear a Matildas jersey. We toured the US and I got to play against some football stars like Mia Hamm and Brandy Chastain.

Standing in the tunnel as a young 19 yr old waiting to go out to play the US heavy weights, watching on nervously as they warmed up before running out to the pitch in front of thousands of people - was such a rush. I still remember that moment vividly.

I was selected in the 2003 World Cup team bound for Los Angeles when a pre World Cup tour to Japan changed my destiny. I ran onto the field from the bench against a dangerously rough South Korea side. A big pat on the back from the coach Adrian Santrac psyched me up and I came storming out ready for action. On my first touch of the ball I was tackled late in mid-air and went spinning down to the ground, rupturing my left leg as I hit the ground. I couldn't speak. I just pounded the grass in pain until I saw the familiar sneakers of the team doctor appear beside me. I managed to stammer, "my knee". I was stretchered off the pitch, staring up into the black sky behind the stadium flood lights. I knew my World Cup was over.

A heartbreakingly difficult few weeks later I had picked myself up and bought a ticket to go and surprise the girls at their first game against Russia at the World Cup. I did just that and nearly had to stop Bubs (the now captain, Melissa Barbieri) from jumping over the stadium fence with astonishment when they saw me!

A year later I was selected in the Olympic team and competed at Athens in 2004. It was one of the best times of my life. The only place where athletes are treated like absolute rock stars! And you can sit and eat next to thousands of world class athletes and sporting legends in their prime. The racing legend Peter Brock was one of our athlete liaisons at the time and was always up for a chat about sport or even quantum physics! Then there was the awkward and very young Christiano Ronaldo with braces who couldn't speak much English but didn't fail to impress the girls.

Walking beside the Boomers as the entire Australian Olympic team led by the iconic Laurie Lawrence barged into the full capacity hockey stadium to the event staff's horror, ticketless we watched the gold medal match won by the Kookaburras in the dying seconds. It was epic.

The free McDonalds in the dining hall was hard to resist as well!

Since then I have represented the Matildas 49 times. We made history at the 2007 Women's World Cup by storming into the finals and I captained two of the games at the 2010 Asian Cup where we became Asian Champions and again qualified for the World Cup in Germany. In an ironic turn in 2011 I missed out on another World Cup when a piece of bone dislodged in my knee a week before selections and I couldn't prove fitness after rushing back from surgery. I worked really hard to get back and started against North Korea and reigning world champions Japan in the 2012 Olympic Qualifiers. A dodgy knee has probably cheated me out of a few more caps but ask any elite athlete and they would say it's all worth it. There are always going to be highs and lows in sport - it will ultimately test the strength of your character.

Off the field I climb buildings and structures as an industrial abseiler doing rigging, maintenance, audits, testing and installations. Walking backwards down the side of the biggest sail on the Opera House was definitely one of the coolest things I have done at work.

I also ride horses for the Australian Turf Club as part of the mounted security team on race days. Cantering an ex race horse around the track of Centennial Park can also be a real buzz.

I am studying Aviation and now Engineering. I have been DJ-ing since I was 16 and have played in clubs like Arq, Creme Tangerine and Trademark. I am a member of the Rural Fire Service, Hornsby Brigade and to escape everything I love to take my R6 motorbike out for a ride down the coast of Sydney.

It has been a tenacious start to the Westfield W-League with the Sydney FC girls roughing out two really tough games. Brisbane Roar were first up as we went head to head against the league champions of the last two years. It was an entertaining game with some very classy football all over the park. A few rough tackles and one in particular saw me fly head over heels and cracked my neck on landing causing my neck to spasm and shoot pains down my back which are still existing, much to my dismay. A stunning goal by Rollo (Renae Rollason) was then answered in the second half by the Roar and we ended on a semi bad note 1-1. It felt like the momentum had shifted in our favor for the last 15-20 minutes and a goal seemed inevitable. Had we an extra five mins I reckon we could have sealed the deal.

Last Saturday we took on a confident Melbourne Victory on an extremely humid day, one not overly desirable to be running around in for 90 mins. Melbourne came out firing and tried to move the ball down the right flank and chip it over the back four, but we held our ground until a break came well into the first half when Leddy (Kylie Ledbrook) scored a cracker from the top of the box off a short corner. The tempo slowed shortly after and we copped an earful about it from our coach Alen Stajic at half time. If we continued to play at this pace we were going to concede a goal he warned

So we ran back out at the second half with captain Danielle Brogan giving us a last minute boost before we took to the field. The last thing I remember hearing was that it was going to be a long 45 mins. It stuck in my head because I remember thinking 'hell yes!'

And it was. The second half was like pulling teeth, balls flying wide and over the bar we pressed up both flanks with Servet and Rapinoe having exceptional games but we kept failing to find the back of the net. The game then took an unexpected turn. The referee awarded Melbourne a penalty which they executed without much trouble.

The pressure was now on and that goal shook us and we started playing football again. Finally some clever play and a counter attack set us up to find the goal we were looking for. What a huge relief it was when it came. There were only a few minutes left and we knew it was just a matter of staying solid until the whistle blew but a momentary lapse in defence gave the Melbourne captain a one on one with the 'keeper which she hit wide just before full time.

I was absolutely knackered after the game and had to do an interview with a very dry mouth which was interesting when trying to sound articulate on TV!

Overall a good result and even Tom Sermanni (national team head coach) said to me after the game he thought it was a good, suspenseful match to watch.

Next on the list is Canberra United, my old side from the first two years of the Westfield W-League. It's going to be an extremely tough game but we are ready for it.

Key player for Westfield W-League side Sydney FC, Thea is also a current Matilda with a strong passion for womens football and the sport in general. Catch the W-League every week at your local ground or if you can't make the game watch it live on ABC1. To read Thea's other columns for The Football Sack, click here!