Memories of a former Matilda, finally honoured after 37 years

The 58-year-old ex-Brogo resident and Quaama-based calf rearer sat in a plastic chair alongside 150 cattle, when she let out a breath of air having been in the media's sight for a week.

It comes after she was awarded her cap by Football Australia's CEO James Johnson at Marvel Stadium in Melbourne in February, 37 years after she represented Australia in the green and gold.

"A lot of people have no idea, my usual position was sweeper but I played right-fullback for the Matildas," she said.

Her debut match against Hong Kong was in front of 100 people, the Matildas winning 6-0, while it was a game against America she said she couldn't forget.

"Totally stuffing up tackles against the USA and they sledged us 6-0. It was a night time game, for some reason I couldn't play at night time, slide tackles, trying to get the ball off them, and they got around me [or] passed just as I was slide tackling," she said.

"We've beaten them since then, thankfully."

A far cry from those early days of Australian women's soccer, last week's cap presentation was made in front of more than 54,000 fans as the current crop of Matildas defeated Uzbekistan 10-0.

In her blood from a young age, she recalled watching the English football with her father Arthur George on television, an ex-referee from England, while her grandfather played during the early 20th Century.

"My mum's father, as far as I know, he played for Everton right back at the start of 1900, Ernest Hughes, I have a medallion of his and it's got E. Football Club," Amanda said.

Growing up in Adelaide wearing the maroon and light blue "the same as West Ham", Amanda's soccer began at the tender age of 13, but due to a missing junior competition, it saw her play in D-Division within the senior women's team.

After moving from Adelaide to Nowra where her playing was halted due to a lack of women's teams, she finished her schooling and moved to the Northern Territory where her brother was based at Pine Gap.

"I was playing for my local Territory team, Wests, they were red, white and black, and that was 1983 when I first moved up there, and first year I was picked in the Alice Springs side," Amanda said.

"Played in the state titles, which was Alice Springs versus Darwin, in those days, that was it, that was the state title, then I was selected in the Northern Territory team and that year we went to Perth."

Amanda missed a couple of years from soccer because it coincided with the face-to-face TAFE horticultural course she was undertaking, but in 1986 while playing in Adelaide, she was selected for the Australian team.

"Totally shocked. We had a function at the end of the tournament and they call you out from the crowd that's sitting there, and I was like, 'What?'," she said.

"We went for one week training at the Australian Institute of Sport, then in 1987 the national titles were held in Alice Springs, and I was named again in the squad that year.

"Around November 1987 I got the phone call to say I was selected to go to Taiwan for the Chinese Cup," she said, describing her thoughts as, "How am I going to do this? Nervous and excited at the same time."

The Baggy Green cap becomes one of only a few pieces of memorabilia Amanda owns, including pennants, badges, pins, and a small soccer ball covered in Matildas players signatures, but she didn't own the kit.

"We had to borrow the Australian men's team soccer kit. I think we played in 6-7 games, and at the end we had to give it back," she said.

"I don't have an Australian soccer shirt, but I've got a cap," she said with a smile.