Women’s soccer is booming in Australia, since the nationwide support of the Matilda's during the Women’s World Cup last year. But girls from African families in Western Sydney say they are still trying to convince parents about the benefits of playing sport.
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00:0023-year-old Kevin Opia wants to show everyone that African women can play soccer.
00:09I want them to also see us, see me and see any other girl out in the fields and just
00:14want to be there without any conflict coming from the back.
00:19It took a while for her to gain the confidence to start playing against her twin brother
00:23Robert and his friends at the park.
00:26My mum wanted me to focus more on my education, whereas my brother, you know, he kind of had
00:32that pursument from her to just keep pushing and go after his dreams.
00:36Opia didn't join a team until she reached high school.
00:40I started to see that people saw potential in me when I was playing, so that made me
00:43really excited and really accepted within the sport.
00:48They're just as good as the men.
00:50They can hold their own.
00:52The heroics of the Matildas, as well as the African sides, in the Women's World Cup last
00:57year has sparked a conversation about encouraging girls from African families to play sport.
01:04You'd have a girl, the mum would be happy for her to stay home, watch the kids while
01:08the boys go out, go kick a football.
01:10Later this year, a new tournament for African women called Karma Umoja will kick off.
01:16It's one of the first Women's Cup in New South Wales for women of colour, solely based
01:23just for us.
01:24Before COVID, the African Cup organisers could only get one girls' team together.
01:29They're confident they'll have several at Karma Umoja this year.
01:33It's going to be a good year, for sure, for South Sudan team.
01:39There's plenty of pride among these footballers.