Marty Sheargold’s Matildas attack: Clare Wheeler criticises Triple M host as players union share outrage

Australian players have expressed their anger over Triple M radio host Marty Sheargold making multiple disparaging remarks about women’s sport and the Matildas, who he compared to “Year 10 girls”.

As the football players union joined the chorus of outrage about the comments with Professional Footballers Australia chief executive Beau Busch describing the remarks as “disgusting, pathetic and deeply misogynistic”, Clare Wheeler shared how the comments had made the players feel.

“Sport is for everyone and these views are for no one,“ Wheeler posted online.

While a member of the 2023 World Cup squad, Alex Chidiac, simply posted, “so sick of this shit”.

Busch said Sheargold’s comments showed a “complete lack of respect for women’s sport and football as a whole”.

“This type of comentary panders to the worst kind of women-haters, clinging to outdated stereotypes instead of engaging with the sport on its merits,” he said in a statement.

“Unlike our inspirational female athletes across the country, he instead sought to drag women’s sport down with cheap and backward rhetoric.”

Interim Matildas coach Tom Sermanni, speaking from the USA where the Matildas are preparing to play their final SheBelieves Cup game, the name of which Sheargold also mocked, against Colombia on Thursday, said Sheargold’s comments were “outrageous”.

“As sporting teams we’re used to criticism but sometimes the comments cross the line,” Sermanni said.

“That one certainly did cross the line; it was completely unnecessary and generally outrageous.

“It’s something that from a behavioural perspective, is really very disappointing.

“The comments just crossed the line and were basically out of order and very unnecessary.

“You don’t mind (criticism). Our team is a high-profile team and being a high-profile team you take criticism and create criticism, sometimes near to the edge and sometimes it goes over the edge and those comments did that.”

Sheargold has received widespread condemnation for his remarks which have earned a rebuke from Sports Minister Annika Wells, who said they were “boorish, boring, wrong”.

When it was mentioned Australia were hosting the Women’s Asian Cup next year, Sheargold said, “I’d rather hammer a nail through the head of my penis than watch that.”

He then asked his co-hosts if they had “any men’s sport” to talk about.

Sermanni himself has not been afraid to call out underwhelming Matildas displays during this tournament.

He described their loss to Japan as “un-Australian” but was encouraged by the improvement against the Americans.

The 70-year-old coach said striker Holly McNamara, who led the line against the USA, is unlikely to play against Colombia given how recently she returned from a torn anterior cruciate ligament.

“We’ve got to be really careful with her,” Sermanni said of the Melbourne City forward.

“She’s done extraordinarily well to come in at this level and handle it the way that she has done.

“At this moment in time, it’s ideal for her not to play tomorrow (Thursday), because we need to make sure that she goes away from this tournament healthy.”

The Scot, meanwhile, said he still had no indication as to whether he would be Australia’s coach in their next international window in April.

The Matildas take on South Korea in Sydney and Newcastle.

“Nobody has tapped me in the shoulder yet, but I keep looking over it just to see if there’s somebody behind me,” Sermanni said.

“At the moment, the answer is still the same as it was and nobody has told me any different.

“I’ve been trying to retire for two years. But, look, if the federation would like me to be involved in anything like I’m doing now I’d be delighted to be involved.”