More than 27,000 people attended matches in Penrith and Newcastle on Saturday and Tuesday in a two-match friendly series.

But it’s not just the Matildas results on the field that have contributed to a growing level of interest in the team from the Western Phoenix.

Club president Ben White believes it’s more about the Matildas providing a pathway for budding female players.

That is evidenced by 42 per cent of their total playing group being made up of females; the next highest percentage of any club in the region is just 19 per cent.

“The way the Matildas have been playing has given girls a bit more ‘girl power’,” he said.

“They have more confidence in being a footballer and not just a girl playing football.

“That’s why we’re pushing to have a 50-50 split at the club; the girls can be footballers in their own right because they have a team to follow that’s theirs.”

White took an entourage of almost 50 junior players to the Matildas clash with Chile in Newcastle.

Not only did they see five second-half goals, they stayed for an hour after the match to pose for a selfie with their favourite player.

“For me, this is the pinnacle,” White said.

The Phoenix president said a number of the girls that had signed up to play this year had never played before.

It’s hard not to point to the success of the national team as a key contributor.

“We had a lot of girls that hadn’t played football until this year and they’ve come along so much and become football nuts in the space of a few months,” White said.

“It’s given them the confidence to be themselves rather than thinking they shouldn’t be involved in sport because it’s a boy thing.”

White also believed it was important for young girls to watch the game live rather than on a television although it wasn’t always possible due to travel.

“You can’t get the same atmosphere or feel for the game as you do on the television,” he said.

The club, however, knew it was important for them to organise more trips to attend live games as it would benefit the girls when they played their own matches.

“Most of the time the girls will walk past a television and if there’s a football game on they won’t take any notice if there are girls playing or not,” he said.

“But if you take them as a group, they’re there with their fellow footballers and the thing they have in common is football.”

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