PERHAPS it is no coincidence that while the Matildas have been creating history on the other side of the world at the women's World Cup, the strength of girls and women's football in Sutherland is booming.
The Sutherland Shire Football Association saw an increase of almost 400 players playing women's football this year, from 5250 to 5641.
Association general manager Jeff Stewart said the success of A-League and Australia's hosting of the Asian Cup were behind the popularity of women's football.
"Put it this way: there are more women in the Sutherland Shire playing football than there are people playing rugby league," he said.
"We've got 19,000 players registered in the association and 30 per cent of those are female.
"The problem in Sutherland is actually that we can't grow enough.
"There just aren't enough fields.
"But we're working on it. I have to give council credit; they've built two synthetic fields up here at Kareela.
"Now we can play night games and wet weather games that we couldn't before. There are more initiatives happening. They just take time."
Fitness and enjoyment were attaractions, as were pathways to the top level.
"In our association girls can play in girls-only comps from under-sixes to women's 30s," Stewart said.
"For some girls it's not all about winning or playing for the Matildas. It's about having fun with their friends and I think the girls-only teams give them that enticement.
"We've also got the girls academy that augments club football for those kids that do want to go to the next level, which feeds into our Sutherland rep team in the Football NSW-run women's premier league."