Being different is not being inferior – it’s your superpower. And Moya Dodd AO, a former Matildas vice-captain and Partner at Gilbert and Tobin, should know.
The practising lawyer, who played in FIFA’s first women’s soccer tournament and was also one of the first women on the governing body, gave an authentic and fascinating glimpse into her life experiences at today’s Queensland Law Society International Women’s Day Breakfast.
Moya joined the FIFA board in 2013.
She shared a range of photos showing how her unconventional upbringing helped her navigate the off-field and boardroom politics and make real changes to the most popular sport in the world.
Moya explained that her parents – her mum was an Australian-born Chinese, Seventh Day Adventist, radio and TV presenter, while Dad was apprentice, acrobatic and fireman – and family grew up in a fire station in Adelaide.
“Our back yard was full of hunky firemen and it was only later that I realised that growing up around a whole lot of blokes and banter was probably good preparation for what I was about to experience in football,” she said.
“I have always felt I was very lucky to have the parents that I did. We were different, we were half Chinese, my mum was a Seventh Day Adventist, we lived in a fire station, we were the only kids who had vegetarian lunchboxes. We used to show up with nutmeat and tomato sauce sandwiches.
“My parents never let us feel that being different was inferior. I just thought we were special. My mum told us we were about to live in a fire station because we were special and I believed her.
“I grew up with a sense that being different wasn’t something to hide and be ashamed of. It was actually something to be confident about and indeed be proud of, you could enjoy it. It didn’t make you inferior – it just made you special.”
Moya participated in a Q&A session with Midja Fisher.
Those special qualities were officially recognised in June 2023, when Moya was made an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO), “for distinguished service to football as a player and administrator at the national and international level, as a role model to women, and to the law”.
And Moya has relished all those roles during her career, and taps into them as a speaker and author.
She discovered football aged 10 after watching Match of the Day on television, and was “captivated by the speed and movement of the game”. She finally found a team to play for at age 13 (Port Adelaide), then represented South Australia and New South Wales. Moya went on to become a vice-captain of the national team, the Matildas.
Moya also shared how the crowds attending women’s matches had changed over the years, showing a photo from “an interstate game back in the day” which drew much laughter from the 400-strong audience.
“You can see that the crowds are a little different from the ones we had at Suncorp,” she joked. “You’ve got a dog and you’ve got a rubbish bin, and I’m sure they both enjoyed the game immensely.”
She spoke about the history of crowds both here and overseas, and the strength of the women’s game, particularly during wartime, where 56,000 attended a women’s match in England, and raised money for the war effort.
Unfortunately, the male-dominated English Football Association later banned women from using male facilities including grounds, stadiums and training fields, impacting crowds and halting the growth of the sport. The ban was not lifted until 1971.
After a knee injury halted Moya’s sporting career, she joined the board of FIFA and kept her fighting spirit alive.
“Having women in decision-making roles definitely leads to better decision-making than having a room full of all men making decisions especially about women’s sport,” she said, addressing current “confronting” challenges around diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI).
“DEI has somehow become an insult, used by some to criticise programs that designed to reduce discrimination and improve equality,” she said.
“Anyone who watches sport knows you need teams that are different. You need a team of people with differences. They will be capable of producing something different.
“Women’s rise in the game has changed the way the game is played and is consumed. Crowds are not just coming to see a sporting spectacular; they are also coming because they want to celebrate what the game represents to them. And what it represents is social purpose, it represents gender equality and it represents inclusion. It’s a very safe space.”
Moya’s achievements in the FIFA boardroom including changing the rule to allow female players wear hijabs on the field, and campaigning for gender equality reforms to be built into statutes and regulations.
A Moroccan player wore a hijab a decade later in the FIFA World Series in Australia. And Moya is particularly proud of the 2023 World Series including the crowd support. Matildas matches broke not only audience records but television viewing records as worldwide audiences tuned in.
Moya is proud of the Matildas World Cup support.
Her favourite broken record is the decibel record at Suncorp during the women’s World Cup semi-finals, breaking the previous State of Origin rugby league game.
“You’d think that’s probably the loudest it’s ever going to be at Suncorp. Well then along came the women, the kids, the grandparents and it’s the wonderful mix you get at women’s sport,” Moya said.
“That very inclusive vibe. The hotbed of radical acceptance and they made more noise than State of Origin fans had made than ever before. So it’s been quite a journey in women’s football.”
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