MARY FOWLER: LEADING THE WAY

THE YOUNG GUN ON THE PRESSURE OF BEING HAILED THE MATILDAS’ NEXT BIG THING

- Sara Tapia

Sam Kerr might be synonymous with women’s football, but it’s likely there will be another name on everyone’s lips during the upcoming FIFA Women’s World Cup. Mary Fowler, 20, has been branded Australia’s “rising star”, with even the Matildas captain herself calling Fowler “the next big thing”. And while those labels could weigh heavily on a player her age, Fowler tells WHO she’s determined to focus on the job at hand.

“There’s definitely times when it has gotten to me and you feel the pressure, but I just see myself as an ordinary girl … and I want to do things just as every other girl my age is doing,” she explains. “And as much as I love football and I’m 100 per cent focused on that, I’m also really into other things outside of football. And I think that kind of balances things out for me. I’m playing on the weekend, but it’s still what I’d be doing if I was just playing locally. It’s just playing at a high level and it’s just football. It’s just two teams running and kicking the ball at the back of the net, like, it’s not a big deal.”