Red Card For Mummy & Other Soccer Stories

Thank you World Cup. Your Kid now wants to play for Australia. Here's what a Parent should definitely NOT do.   So you're getting up at ungodly hours to watch the telly, you are planning the next family holiday to Cape Verde and your kid wants to play for Australia. whilst some families have nicked off for their Euro Summer or poor mans Ibiza at Port Douglas, you're looking forward top soakin...

The Price of Entry. I love this phrase. It fits for anything you really have to try for , if you really want to achieve and is the key nugget of wisdom from my chat with Junior Matildas Coach, Mike Cooper for the latest episode of Red Card For Mummy. There's a price of entry for all players if you want to be good. If you want to be elite, the price is higher. Who knows, when you get in,...

Philip Mango, Captain and Goal keeper of the brand spanking new Solomon Island Kings, is everything about diplomacy that football sets out to be. Plucked from his basketball side as a teen to fill in as Goal Keeper in a school game because he could jump, Mango largely learned his skills guarding the net from you tube and a pamphlet given to him by OFC Goalkeeping Consultant James Bannatyne, a visi...

Neil Poloso is the referee development office at the Oceania Football Confederation , based in the Solomon Islands. In this inaugural season of the Oceania Pro League- which is a Club based competition in the Oceania region- Neil explains how the Video Assisted Referee system works. You know when the referee makes a rectangular box with his fingers to signify he needs to watch something over? That...

Tell it like it is, Journalist Sam Lewis. She's a pioneer in the women's footballing space in Australia and has she got a Red Card to give out, as Australia's Matilda's just miss out on the silverware to Japan 0-1 in the 2026 World Cup Final hosted in Australia. In the wake of the loss there have been recriminations, blame, and believe it or not, in some sections, calm analysis. But Sam Lewis has...

Alicia Ferguson, known as Eesh - gives you the rundown on the great women of the game you really need to know, especially at this time of the Asian Cup in Australia. Eesh takes us into the dressing room for the story of the team - the relationships, the career paths, the babies, the adventures for a remarkably candid insight into the lives of women who have changed sport in Australia for all. Host...

Ok. So the sound on this ones a bit wonky - but persist, my friends, persist. Once again, Football is so much more than what's on the pitch. David Beckham is the man who, through Football changed men's style - he made it cool to take an interest in your appearance. Haircuts are totally integrated into the Soccer life style - and it's split over into other sports; whether it be AFL or NFL. Who are...

She's 45 years old, and still is the #1 Keeper for Melbourne City. Melissa Barbieri is an Australian Goal Keeping Legend, former captain of the Matildas, and a stalwart of the team for over a decade. Her view of the game of soccer, women's football, is a view of it's time - a successful woman, still at the peak of her powers, also working as on eof the rare female coaches in the women's game. Meli...

Guillaume and Arnold Castillo, soccer's son and father internet sensations, have created a showcase of young Australian footballing talent with their Instagram hit , @au.ballerz. At any game, you can see them filming - Guillaume, all of 15 years, conducting his world famous endearing interviews with other young trojans, basking in the spotlight of their youthful footballing fame. It's a labour of...

Ned Hall hails from Football Country - The UK. When he came to Australia he was shocked to learn that Football in this country was everything but the game he'd been borned and bred with. Football in Australia is known as Soccer, as it is in the USA; but if you want to grow your game in foreign territory, you learn to go with the flow and make progress where you can. But Ned's clear insights as to...

Football Gets Friendly between Australia and Argentina when player agent and neuroscience advocate Daniel Santomil comes into the picture. His aim? To create a winning mindset - think like a winner, eat like a winner, sleep like a winner and play like a winner. It's a long way to Australia from Daniel's home in Buenos Aires, but the joy of football can travel the 11, 600 km it takes to get here. B...

Can there be anyone in Australia more Totally Football than Santo Cilauro? OK. Sure. Ange Postecoglou, from Tottenham Hotspures, And yes, And Sam Kerr. Right. But the football lover who turned the beautiful game into Showbiz for Australia is none other than THIS man, who is part of the Working Dog team that has created some of Australia's most ground breaking comedy over the last 30 years. You may...

Tania Hird is an Extreme Soccer Mum. She is also an ex lawyer, mother of 4 and founder & CEO of HairflairAus and Tania Hird Designs. Tania knows elite sport. Her son Alex plays for A- League team, Melbourne Knights. But yes - that surname IS familiar. For many years too, Tania was the wife and partner of Essendon Football legend and coach, James Hird. By James' side steadfastly, Tania experien...

Dave Davutovic is a leading football commentator in Australia, and here, shares his insights into the pathway from here, this water bound continent, to play Football with the rest of the world. The conversation looks at how Soccer treated Indigenous Australians at the time of the White Australia policy, and how men's and women's soccer has attracted different players, according to the cultural pre...

Is cheating common in a game of football? How does a ref decide whether or not to give a Red Card? A Yellow Card? Stop the Match? We go inside the Referee's mind to discover exactly what it takes for a parent to don the kit and pick up a whistle. What are the no go zones for on field behaviour? How much money can you make? is it tax deductible? And do you have to be mad to even try. Ben Walker , A...

They stripped off to raise funds to compete. Can you believe this was the only way Women's Football in Australia - our beloved Matilda's - could garner the financial support and promotional appeal to propel them into the 2000 Sydney Olympics? The extraordinary thing about the Matilda's decision to strip down - de rigeur at the time for fundraising ( think Calendar Girls in the UK) - was that is wa...

Well, if you want to work as a professional in Soccer, there's Plan A and Plan B . Andy Brennan, is both charismatic and dynamic midfielder for the South Melbourne Soccer Club, and club psychologist at A League contenders, Melbourne City. In fact, he credits his longevity and ability to withstand the maelstrom of a life as a soccer pro not just to committed mentors and hard work on the pitch, but...

Helen Tyrikos is one of those rare breeds - a senior female football administrator who actually is paid for her work. Legendary in Soccer circles, Helen is doing amazing work researching the relationship between a parents behaviour and the kids' collection red cards - so sit up straight; we are looking at YOU, Mummy. Even if you are a Daddy. Here's another interesting tidbit, I bet you never consi...

Bryce Ruthven. This is the place where Soccer and Reality TV collide! The Big, Bold, Blonde Married At First Sight Alumni of Season 8, Bryce certainly made his mark on Australian Television with his strong physical presence and straight shooting style. And he continued outside the game too, fearless in his scathing account of his time on the reality TV show. But always one to win, Bryce walked awa...

SPECIAL EDITION: Who better to dive into all the drama, fuss and implications of Sam Kerr's court case in London for the racial harassment of a police officer, than #KeepersMum, Libbi Gorr and #TheSportsAmbassador, Tracey Holmes. Sam Kerr - Australia's highest paid female footballer on something like $3.3 million with her playing and endorsements taken in account. And yet, she's now facing court f...

An unexpected and spectacularly new conversation with the father of Matilda Emily Van Egmond, her Dad and coach Gary, and super fan Clyde, A Liverpool tragic, about the understanding that each man raised two gay children. Do Dad's have these conversations, particularly with each other? They do on Red Card For Mummy, where stories are the calling card for compelling conversation. This unexpected an...

Did you know that the Hungarian legendary striker Ferenc Puskas was here in Australia coaching the South Melbourne Hellas Football Club in the 1990’s? Without a word of English. That very same Puskas after whom the FIFA Goalscoring trophy is named. That's like Messi or Ronaldo coming to coach and no one knowing about it. And who was his chauffeur and captain? None other than Ange Postecoglou, now...