Watch Insight’s episode Thanks Boomers on SBS On Demand.
My love of football started as a young age while growing up in Liverpool, England.
Our family, like thousands of others, were football-mad and our beloved team Liverpool were the object of our affection.
Football brought the community together for a few hours every Saturday afternoon as we forgot about our poor living conditions and the high unemployment rate at the time.
Jill (pictured standing second from the left) and her first football team in South Australia, 1977. Source: SBS
‘Girls don’t play football’
I was very good at football for my age. I remember as an 8-year-old old I practiced kicking a ball against a wall which drove everyone in our house mad.
I had a dream of one day playing in a team like my brothers did, but this was denied to me because I was a girl. I never could understand why everyone told me: “girls don’t play football”.
What many like me didn’t know, was that in 1921the Football Association (FA) in England banned women’s football from its clubs and stadiums, citing strong opinions about football’s unsuitability for females and this must be discouraged.
The ban was due to the growing popularity of women’s football and it was seen as a threat to the men’s game. The ban lasted 50 years and many other countries, including Australia, followed suit until it was overturned in 1971. An apology only came from the FA in 2008.
Big move, big dreams
When I was 10, we emigrated as 10 pound Poms to Australia for a better life. I still was not allowed to play football in South Australia. All I could do was watch my brothers play and be their ball collector when it went out, hoping the coach would see my potential from the sidelines as I kicked the ball back with great speed and accuracy.
Regardless, I never gave up on my dream and continued to practice on my own or with my brothers, running rings around them both. It wasn’t until I was 16 in 1977 that our school formed a girls’ team, playing against other recently formed women’s football teams.
The South Australian Women’s Soccer Association also formed a year later in 1978 and to my delight other teams also joined. Playing my first-ever game was so exciting I did not sleep for a week, even taking my very first football boots to bed with me.
In 1979 I was picked for the very first state team, representing South Australia in Darwin. I almost burst with excitement.
During this tournament, I learned that an Australian coach picked the best players to form an Australian team, later known as the Matildas.
I wasn’t selected this time, but it didn’t stop me.
My biggest goal was to play for Australia, so I trained by myself every day (outside of club training) running 20km, and using every lunch break to practice.
Jill Latimer (pictured with the trophy on her head) represented Australia in the 1980s. Source: SBS
What it was really like representing Australia
My hard work paid off a year later and I was selected in the Australian team to go to America. Unfortunately, a few weeks from travel the trip was cancelled due to lack of funding.
In 1981 I was selected again and joined the Australian team at a training camp in Sydney and then travelled to New Zealand to play in the Trans-Tasman Cup.
We had to pay for our flights and accommodation, but we did get the tracksuits for free.
Less than 50 people attended the tournament, there were no sponsors, no banners, corporate boxes, or grandstands, no dignitaries to address the small crowd, no national anthems were played, and the little publicity we got was usually a disrespectful line in the press like: “Gorgeous goal getters”.
The coverage had recurring themes around appearance, fashion, body parts especially legs, attractiveness, and general unwelcome sleaze.
After this trip, I was picked a few more times in the Australian team but once again no trips were planned due to lack of funding.
But my big break came in 1987 when I was chosen to represent Australia in China for the Women’s World Invitational Tournament.
This was the first time we had big crowds of around 20,000 people. Admittedly all the schools were let out to watch us, but it didn’t matter. The atmosphere was amazing and it was so great to play against some of the best players in the world.
Jill (pictured with the ball) says joining the Adelaide Armpits meant she found acceptance and credits her time playing for the team as one of personal growth. Source: SBS
Finding my tribe
I knew I liked women from a young age but I kept it to myself and dated men for a while.
I was at the height of my football career in the early 1980s and it was not safe to come out as a lesbian because of the blatant homophobia that existed during this time and I was afraid it would potentially impact on my selection in the Australian team. We were also at the start of the AIDS epidemic and sexual discrimination was rife.
The discrimination in women’s football was always challenging on and off the field, from opposition players not shaking our hands, targeting players with unfair tackles and laughter from the sidelines, to yelling insults at us such as “you bunch of dirty lesbians” or “all you need is a good man to sort you out”.
But because I had the support from the rest of the playing group and our supporters, I was able to block this out on the field and let my feet do the talking.
After representing Australia, I joined one of the first all-lesbian football clubs called the Adelaide Armpits, and I never looked back. I was supported by a caring bunch of lesbians who created a haven for us to express ourselves and have fun whilst playing good football. I know I became a better human being as those years were the most significant in my life in terms of my growth.
Looking back, I was happy that I had succeeded by reaching my goal of playing for Australia. Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought that I would see the Matildas play in a World Cup on Australian soil. This was the icing on the cake.
