An Australian radio presenter has been taken off air after his comments about the country's women's football team. Marty Sheargold compared the Matildas players to "year 10 girls" with "all the infighting and all the friendship issues" while speaking on his drive time Triple M radio show.
He said he "would rather hammer a nail through the head of [his] penis" than watch the team in next year's Asian Cup, before asking his co-host: "Got any men's sport?". He also reportedly said "There's something wrong with the Matildas. They had that wonderful tournament out here where we all fell in love with them, even though they didn't make the quarters," referring to the 2023 World Cup.
The comments were made after the Matildas lost to Japan and the United States in the SheBelieves Cup - a tournament hosted in the US. The Triple M network said the comments didn't "align with [its] views and values" and took the program off air. It said a new drive show would be announced soon.
Mr Sheargold "sincerely apologised" for his comments, saying that he could "see why people may have taken offence". 'Boorish, boring, wrong'. Reacting to the radio DJ's comments, Matildas player Alex Chidiac said she was "so sick" of such commentary, while fellow player Clare Wheeler added: "Sport is for everyone and these views are for no one.".
The governing body Football Federation Australia also condemned the comments, saying that they "not only diminish the extraordinary achievements and contributions of our women's national football team but also fail to recognise the profound impact they have had on Australian sport and society".
The body said the Matildas "deserve to be covered with the respect and professionalism they have earned". Rosie Malone, who played field hockey for Australia, posted an edited version of Mr Sheargold's comments on social media, describing them as "disgusting" and "horrendous".
Follow our channel and never miss an update. She posted: "It's 2025 and something like this is being aired on prime-time radio. "I heard this on the radio yesterday - on the way to training and all I could think about was the young girls sitting in the car with their parents, maybe on the way to or from their own training sessions hearing this.
"I'm sure many of them would have been hurt and confused. I was in disbelief.". Australia's sports minister Anika Wells described the comments as "boorish, boring, wrong", while football's national players' union said "it is important such ignorance does not go unchecked".
