The Herald's Opinion: Newcastle's embrace of the Matildas shows the rising power of women's sport

At the same time, the embrace of the Matildas - embodied by their Chelsea-based talisman Sam Kerr - is part of a broader revolution in women's sport.

A revolution that is especially evident in the heavy body-contact codes of rugby league, rugby union and Australian rules - as well as some less mainstream sports, such as surfing.

Unfortunately, however, for many women playing traditionally male sports, the most they've been able to hope for, until recently, has been a semi-professional status.

With all high-profile sports depending on media money for their survival, the road to professionalism for women has been something of a vicious circle.

Regardless of code or sport, women's competitions have found it hard to gain mainstream coverage without their standards reaching the sort of clinical efficiency on display in male pro sports.

Yet the freakish efforts that modern sports fans take for granted - think the mind-bending tries scored by NRL wingers since the corner post was taken out of the equation - are beyond the reach of mere mortals who have to cut short their training to go back to work.

There's another force at play here, and it's the grass-roots embrace of traditionally male sports, by school-age girls who continue their youthful athleticism through to adulthood.

This, in turn, is part of an even wider change in society's attitudes, in which conservative restrictions on everything from gay marriage to women in business leadership are being cast aside.

In sport, there's an often surprised recognition that women are made of the same flesh and bone as men, and that those who want to head out onto a football field and tackle their hearts out - or launch themselves from the lip of a wave, high into the air - are perfectly capable of doing so, and with a skill set that is at once universal, and uniquely their own.

Even so, pro sport is still largely a male pursuit.

But the more girls who play soccer, or a rugby code, or Aussie rules, at school, the greater the base of athletes to form elite competitions.

And the more players there are to watch (and play critic to) their own sport, the bigger the potential audience to underwrite this revolution in women's sport.

In the meantime, it's a Matildas win in Newcastle.

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