Football Belongs: Australia's Football Identity, by Optus Sport

Three years after we first launched the award-winning Football Belongs podcast series, Matilda Emma Checker is our guest and author Fiona Crawford reprises her role in this special bonus episode. They join series inspiration and author John Didulica and our host David Davutovic as they discuss the revolution that has swallowed Australia throughout the FIFA Women's World Cup 2023™. After an earlier episode of Football Belongs about a women's match that never happened - this time we are talking about a match that did happen: Canada v Australia, in Melbourne on 31st July 2023, as well as:The (very-much-welcomed) excitement capturing those who would otherwise have looked past the gameWhy the Matildas have emerged as a universally-loved group of playersThe incredible legacy this World Cup is creating - and how we leverage this moving forwardCan we finally say that football is Australia's national sport?Edited by Lucas Perry, Optus Sport.Watch every match of the FIFA Women's World Cup 2023™ live and on-demand on Optus Sport.Listen to Optus Sport's award-winning limited series: Football Belongs, charting the cultural threads of Australian society through the lens of nine football matches:Acast: https://play.acast.com/s/football-belongsSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2AzBek8ub2oEsWLYHWetg7Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/football-belongs-australias-football-identity-by-optus/id1543067162

The incredible limited series from Optus Sport, Football Belongs, hosted by David Davutovic and authored by John Didulica, and featuring a host of prominent sporting personalities in this country, has been nominated for two awards in the upcoming 2021 Australian Podcast Awards:Best Sports PodcastBest Indigenous PodcastIf you haven't yet taken the time to soak up the depth of this series, here is a short taste of what you can hear throughout. Or, if you are ready to rip in, click here to listen: https://play.acast.com/s/football-belongsFootball Belongs.

Former Socceroos coach Ange Postecoglou, Matildas great Kate Gill and journalist Francis Leach are our special guests, as we close out the Football Belongs podcast series.They join series inspiration John Didulica and our host David Davutovic in a passionate discussion on:Looking forward to the future of the game in AustraliaThe event that could create a new pathHow will the game and its people earn a legitimate place in Australian life? Can football become 'mainstream'?If you haven't already, we urge you to visit Optus Sport's digital platforms to read the chapters - authored by John Didulica - that tell a deeper story, of which this podcast barely scratches the surface. Click here: https://sport.optus.com.au/category/articlesProduced & edited by Lucas Perry, Optus Sport.

Matildas greats Kate Gill and Tal Karp plus current star Tameka Yallop, along with esteemed writer and academic Fiona Crawford, join John Didulica and David Davutovic for a strong-hearted discussion about the gulf that was (partially) bridged after a brave move by a group of Aussie football players.In this episode:The match between USA v Australia in Detroit, Michigan in September 2015, and why the Matildas didn't playThe power of unity and solidarity in trying to break down disparityEquality in sport, how it has changed, and what still remains to be doneProduced & edited by Lucas Perry, Optus Sport.

Esteemed football historian & author Roy Hay and researcher & blogger Paul Mavroudis join John Didulica and David Davutovic for the latest instalment of Football Belongs. The match in focus is a day in 1964 when the VFL All-Stars took on Slavia-Port Melbourne, in front of tens of thousands of fans at Olympic Park.Some incredible stories feature in this episode, including:How the game of Australian Rules has continued to impact the game of football in Victoria.A classic yarn about a sequel to the above game, in 1991, where the 'Aussies' took on 'the wogs' - and who came out on top.Produced & edited by Lucas Perry, Optus Sport.

There are still four incredible episodes to come in the limited edition Football Belongs series, in which John Didulica and David Davutovic will be joined by a host of engaging personalities to speak on these truly important topics.If you haven't already, here's your chance to catch up on the first six episodes, as well as make your way through the chapters that have been compiled by John DidulicaYou can find the chapters on the Optus Sport app, or visit https://sport.optus.com.au/

Ros Moriarty and Travis Dodd are the special guests on this episode of Football Belongs, as they join John Didulica and David Davutovic to have a powerful conversation about:The outrageous notion of Aussie football superstar John Moriarty being selected to represent his country - before being allowed to voteAn unheralded role football and its migrant communities played in embracing the First Nations peopleThe Socceroos’ 1960 tour of South-East Asia - and why it was cancelledDifficulties faced by Indigenous culture and football culture in gaining legitimacy and acceptance in mainstream Australia.Produced & edited by Lucas Perry, Optus Sport.

Cultural cringe: it runs through our entire cultural and political zeitgeist in Australia, and as former Socceroo Paul Trimboli and broadcaster Francis Leach join John Didulica and David Davutovic, they discuss this in detail, including:The 81 minute 'classic' between Australia and AC Milan at Princes Park in 1993How cultural cringe played a part in Ange Postecoglou's shock 2017 Socceroos exitWhy Paul Trimboli is Australian football's version of Forrest GumpThe synergies between local football and Australian cinemaProduced & edited by Lucas Perry, Optus Sport.