Sport

Men are annoyed that Australia wants to make a statue for the Matildas

Men are annoyed that Australia wants to make a statue for the Matildas
"This is just the start" - Matildas buzzing after saving World Cup …

Men are airing their annoyance at plans to make a bronze statue to celebrate the Matildas at the World Cup.

The Matildas, who came fourth in the Women’s World Cup, were celebrated in Brisbane on Sunday and handed the Keys to the City by the Lord Mayor. During the celebrations, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk confirmed that a statue will be built in honour of the team.

“We’re going to increase the legacy funding for women’s football including upgrades to major venues where football is played across Queensland,” Palaszczuk said.

“But wait there’s one more thing. As a lasting tribute to 2023 Matildas we will build a statue at Suncorp Stadium.

“There are plenty (of statues) there, celebrating our male sporting champions, it’s time we celebrated women as well… you deserve your place amongst the greatest.”

British TV host Piers Morgan was one of the first to complain about the announcement, retweeting the news writing: “A statute for coming 4th? Is this a joke?”

Sky News Australia host Laura Jays responded to Morgan, offering to explain what the team means to Australia.

“Long lunch and I’ll explain the Matildas effect,” Jays said. “Half the country watched the match. This is a country that is dominated by men’s AFL and NRL.”

“It’s a big deal. And the start of something very big for women’s sport.”

However, she failed to get Morgan to consider her, and millions of Matildas’ fans perspective, simply replying to Jays with: “Never had you down as a participation prize fan.”

Many also disagreed with Morgan in the comments, sharing how ‘proud’ they are of the Matildas, and that they had united the country.

However, it seems Morgan isn’t the only man frustrated the idea of the statue writing.

Former Australian NBA star Andrew Bogut wrote on Twitter:

“Matildas did well… Statue? No. A Gold/First Place is a statue and over the top celebration worthy achievement,” he wrote.

Australian tennis star Nick Kyrgios shared his opinion about the news: “Agree. Great effort! Statue for fourth is nuts but they had us all on the edge of our seats! Next time.”

Morgan later doubled-down on his comments, responding to some on Twitter by saying, “mate, no offence but the Matildas got beaten by England, and even lost the 3rd/4th play-off.”

Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter

Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

The Conversation (0)