Yesterday, Wikinews interviewed Steve Redhead, a Professor of Sports Media and Acting Head of School of Human Movement Studies at Charles Sturt University in New South Wales, Australia, about the Australian women's national soccer team (Matildas), the Australian men's national soccer team (Socceroos) and the current differences between the state of women and men's soccer in Australia.  The Socceroos are currently getting international attention following yesterday's 2014 FIFA World Cup draw which placed the 59th FIFA ranked team in the same group as top FIFA ranked Spain, fifteenth ranked Chile and the ninth ranked Netherlands.
The Matildas were in the news late last month, following their AFC Women’s Asian Cup 2014 draw which saw them placed in the group with Japan, Vietnam and Jordan.  With the competition scheduled to take place in May, the Matildas are looking to repeat their performance as AFC champions.  Domestically, Australia's top women's club team Sydney FC finish third in the International Women’s Club Championship held in Japan this past week after defeating South American club champions Colo-Colo in a penalty shootout.
((Wikinews)) : The Socceroos are ranked 59th by FIFA.  The Matildas are ranked 8th by FIFA in the latest rankings. Should media coverage correlate to team performance and international rankings? Is there an element of tall poppy syndrome in the coverage of the Socceroos?  What other factors can be used to explain the relative differences in media attention other than performance?
((WN)) : What's the difference in style of play between the men and women's national teams?
((WN)) :  Why are the Matildas more successful in international competitions and ranking wise than the Socceroos?
((WN)) :  Soccer is one of most popular spectator sports for women.  Why do you think the W-League has been unable to capitalize on the female audience like netball has?
((WN)) :   Why do you think men don't watch the Matildas in the same numbers as they watch the Socceroos?
((WN)) :  Do problems with A-League finances translate into broader problems for the W-League and its ability to attract investors?
((WN)) :  None of the Socceroos received DAS [Direct Athlete Support] grants from the Australian Sports Commission in the past year while almost every single player on the Matildas received DAS or SLGSfW [Sports Leadership Grants and Scholarships for Women] funding. What accounts for difference in Australian Sports Commission/Australian Institute of Sport funding and what would it take to change that?
((WN)) :  What role should the government play in encouraging media organizations, both newspapers and television networks, to cover women's soccer in Australia?
((WN)) :   Does the media feed into traditional Australian gender stereotypes by not covering elite women's sports?
((WN)) :  Australia has a long history of a male-driven sporting narrative. How does this narrative play into current representations of men and women in Australian soccer?  Does the cultural heritage of male-driven narratives make one national team more inherently authentic than the other?
((WN)) :   Do issues with the Matildas not receiving the same level of media recognition as the Socceroos play a role in the development and attention of other Australian national soccer teams like blind football at the Paralympic level, cerebral palsy football at the Paralympic level, Australian teams at the International Gay Games, deaf soccer teams at the Deaflympics, wheelchair soccer at the World Cup of Powerchair Football?

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Wikinews interviews academic Steve Redhead about Australian women's soccer