Margot Robinne, who has been playing in Australia since 2020 after starting her career in France, talks about the enthusiasm for women’s football at the national level.
She is the only tricolor representative in the Australian professional league. Margot Robinne, 32, and three seasons in the A-League (the local championship) under crampons, has seen women’s football evolve in the country as the World Cup approaches. She evokes the training and playing conditions, the level, but also the enthusiasm that has gradually built up around the Matildas.
Franceinfo sport: How did you come to play in Australia?
Margot Robinne: Thanks to football, I met a lot of people, including a former teammate who went to Australia. She was playing, but she especially wanted to develop academies, specific training groups for women’s football, in Victoria, in the Melbourne region. I was at TFC, I was a bit at the end of a cycle, I got crossed, an ankle injury. I said to myself: why not join her and try to develop our small business in Australia. When I was young, I didn’t have much to train with, we played with the boys… And I always told myself that as soon as I had the opportunity to give back to football what it gave me, I would do it.
Is it this academy and development side that particularly interested you?
Developing women’s football has always been important to me. I didn’t know anything about Australia, but developing something made me want to. Football in Australia is not the national sport, it is a little more minor sport, and the European, French know-how is very recognized. Here they are still in development. Coming here made sense.
How was this season with Brisbane?
We were lucky to have the infrastructure of the national team, the ones it uses during the World Cup. It was a very good environment to work in. Afterwards, you should know that the professional season is during the summer, and that in Brisbane, the weather is constantly very humid and hot. It was very difficult for me to adapt. I was living with the American goalkeeper and a Swedish defender, and all three of us were really in trouble with these temperatures. We step outside and we’re soaked, it’s tropical, like in Asia. It affects the form, the physique.
How do you view the championship, the environment, the conditions?
It is an evolving championship. When I landed, there were two teams less, since then they add one every year. They try to improve the general conditions. What is good is that here, we are under contract. Salaries are not extraordinary, it is a negotiation, but all players have a minimum salary. It’s not great luxury, but it allows you to live normally, and it brings you a certain comfort during the season, when you can be full time. You train in the morning, you go to the bodybuilding, on the field, you have access to doctors, to all the physios, the care is taken care of. Compared to the conditions I had in France, it’s much better here.
And in terms of level?
The level is not the same, it’s very different football. Australian sports like footy, the national sport, are really athletic sports, and that’s the basis. Australian rules football is a bit footy based, they are real athletes. When Ellie Carpenter (Australian defender) arrived in France (in Lyon), it was said that she was a driving force, that she was running everywhere, in all directions. That’s the Australian rules football stereotype. It’s less technical, it’s less tactical, but it’s very physical, very athletic, it goes all over the place and it never stops. The Australian show is to give everything physically.
How do you explain these differences?
I was technical director of a club here, I was close to the League, I see how it works with the coaches, the diplomas and the training they receive. It’s very different here, it’s very stereotyped, they’re going to do the same training for more or less all age categories, even though the content is completely different. There are basics that are not done, and it shows in the players who are developing. It’s good that foreigners come, it’s also the strength we have in Europe, there is quality everywhere, knowledge, exchanges. Here, they are far from everything, and it’s not the national sport, so it’s complicated to evolve. But things are moving slowly, things are changing.
What audience is there for women’s football in Australia?
In the professional league, there are a few people. All the matches are broadcast on TV, there is more visibility for women’s football, it helps to attract more people. Since they knew they were hosting the World Cup, they started to develop a product around the championship, they created a real brand around the national team. You feel that there is a craze around women’s sport, women’s football, at the national level. I’ve never signed so many autographs as this year, with little girls everywhere. They made operations, if you are registered in a football club and you are under 16, you can go to see all the matches for free. They create communication, to feed the dreams of young girls. I think that in France, we lack that. It’s everywhere, they’re on TV, it’s a real product, they have registered the “Matildas” brand, and they use it thoroughly.
It’s been a talking point all season, this home World Cup coming up? What chances do you give the Australians?
In my team, I had a teammate who is going to the World Cup, Katrina Gorry, and we have two or three Matildas who have come to train with us. When you train with internationals, the World Cup at home, you inevitably hear about it. So yes, we talked a lot about the World Cup. And as it is at home, the Australians are very hungry, they are real fighters, it is the Australian state of mind which is quite powerful. We really feel a craze from the world around the players, who are on the job.