It was a regular Saturday afternoon in 1964 when Pat O'Connor saw something that would change the course of Australian football forever.
Standing beside a football field in western Sydney, O'Connor had just watched her seven-year-old son Kirk finish playing for the Bankstown RSL Soccer Club when she spotted a handful of women running out onto the empty grass.
She had no idea women's teams existed in Australia. Back home in England, women were banned from playing football on all association pitches, relegating them to suburban parks, backyards, and empty plots of land. The closest O'Connor had ever come to the game was cleaning the boots of her older brother in their family home.
But when she saw that group of women sprinting and shouting and taking up space on that sacred field, something in her shifted. It was as though a piece had fallen into place.
"I was 24 years old and had never kicked a ball before," O'Connor said, "but I wanted to give it a try."
The following year, she inquired with her local club, Bass Hill RSL, who invited her to form (and captain) their first ever women's team. Coached by her husband, Joe, she was handed the number 10 shirt: a fitting choice for one of the most important, creative, and game-changing figures in the sport.
It didn't take long for Pat to sense a new horizon yawning open beyond her; the gentle breeze of history gathering in her sails.
"I realised I would like to play soccer on a competitive level, so Joe [O'Connor, her husband] and I put an advertisement in the Sydney newspaper asking any like-minded girls to contact us," she said.
"A committee member of the Sydney Prague Soccer Club contacted us and invited us to form a women's team under the Prague banner, so that's what we did."
But first, they needed a competition to play in.
Together, the O'Connors helped found the NSW Metropolitan Ladies' Soccer Association in 1967, with enough women and girls expressing interest that they created four teams in their first season.
One of those players was Trixie Tagg. During a break at her job one afternoon, the 19-year-old was flicking through the local newspaper when she came across the O'Connors' ad. A migrant from the Netherlands, Tagg had grown up playing football on the street with boys from her neighbourhood, but had never dreamed of playing in a women's league.
She was also experiencing a profound personal loss: her boyfriend had been killed in a car accident earlier that year, leaving her feeling lost and disconnected from the world.
"I was sad and struggling to cope," Tagg said, "until I saw a little newspaper article with Pat O'Connor's phone number looking for more players for Sydney Prague.
"My boss allowed me to make a phone call, and as a result, I trialled mid-week at ES Marks Field in Randwick. I was happy trialling that night, but a bit nervous, because I hadn't seen nor kicked a soccer ball in years!
"The first training session was on the back field with a dull light. The men's team trained under good lights on the main pitch, but we were so grateful that we were accepted by the boys and the club.
"I was so happy being part of the Sydney Prague team. It was a life-line for me."
Sue Larsen was still in school when her dad was driving home from work one afternoon and saw Pat and Trixie's team playing on a nearby field. He pulled over and wandered across the grass, and eventually got talking to Joe, who told him they'd be playing a game that weekend and to bring along any girls he knew.
Sydney Prague went on to win the first three titles in the history of the league.
But, like their captain and top goal-scorer Pat, they soon hungered for a greater challenge.
In 1971, after a conversation with a football-loving colleague, Pat was persuaded to move the team to a different club in a bigger and more varied association. They migrated to Sydney's east, bringing the players under the now-legendary banner of St George Budapest: the club of former Socceroos captain Johnny Warren, as well as several legendary figures in the men's game.
In fact, it was Johnny's older brother Ross who helped integrate the women's team into the wider club, organising access to equipment, coaches, and fields for training and games.
"Johnny Warren was our idol," Tagg said. "A fantastic player and a wonderful person.
"He donated two brand-new soccer balls to improve our training sessions. Some of the boys coached us: they could see we were keen to learn and improve our skills, and supported us when we played the occasional curtain-raiser for them, or when we gave an exhibition of our skills at half-time.
"We were like the United Nations: players who were born and had lived in England, Germany, South Africa, Ireland, Scotland, Holland, as well as Australia.
"The main thing we had in common was that we were all passionate about playing football. Pat was our leader and captain, but we all contributed to our proud record of being undefeated for ten years."
That's right: 10 years. Starting with their three titles at Prague, the St George Women's team went on to win their next seven seasons without losing a single game.
The support from the club, particularly on the men's side, saw them become one of the most fearsome women's teams in the country, racking up scorelines more commonly seen in cricket or basketball. In their first season at St George, they scored 206 goals and conceded... none.
"One media report sticks out in my mind," O'Connor said.
"Mike Gibson came to one of our St George home games to do a story for his newspaper. We were winning 11-0 at half-time. After the break, our goalkeeper wandered off her line and one of the opposition players lobbed the ball high over her head into the goal.
"Their supporters went crazy with joy, and when Mike asked why they were so happy when they were losing 11-1, we told him that it was the first goal scored against us in two years.
"He gave us a double-spread in his newspaper with a story about the goal and a picture of our goalkeeper diving for the ball."
Cindy Heydon was standing beside a football field when her life changed forever, too.
She was 10 years old, and her mother worked for St George in the front office. Cindy was the mascot for the men's team, often accompanying them to away games, running up and down the sideline and doing odd-jobs like fetch water and clean boots.
"I was surrounded by some of the greatest St George players ever who went on to become national team players," Heydon said.
"Johnny Warren, George Harris, Harry Williams, Atti Abonyi, Adrian Alston, John Stoddart, Willy Hamilton, Bobby Hog, Jim Heron, Tom Stein. The list goes on.
"I'd go to Carrs Park and train with these guys every week, and they were always good to me. Their coach was Frank Arok, and I went to school with his daughter. After weekend games, the boys would come back to our place for a barbecue, and of course I'd make them kick a ball around with me.
"The very first time I saw the St George women's team was at Hurstville Oval: the girls played an exhibition match at half-time. I was so excited that I ran up to my mum and said, 'I quit as a mascot. I want to play soccer with those girls instead!'
"I must have been a pain in the arse, but not one of those guys ever told me to get lost. Little did I know at the time, I was mixing with soccer royalty, and what they all taught me was undeniably a huge part of my success."
As women's football began to grow around the country, St George's success spilled beyond their own association's borders.
Heydon was one of several players chosen from the club to represent the NSW Women's State Team, helping them win the inaugural Women's National Championship title in 1974, and twice more in 1976 and 1977.
St George also participated in Australia's first ever international club competition for women when, in 1974, three teams from Auckland in New Zealand — Eden Saints, Papakura Bay, and Blockhouse Bay — flew to Sydney for a round-robin tournament against St George, Ingleburn RSL, and Blacktown Spurs.
St George swept their opponents aside, winning all five of their games with 50 goals scored and just two conceded. And 22 of those came in one game alone, with one headline the next day reading: "22-0: Yes, folks. That's right, 22-zip!"
But it was the following year that this St George team, led by O'Connor and Tagg, would create more significant history.
In 1975, almost the entire club (with two Ingleburn players) was selected by the Australian Soccer Federation to represent Australia in an international competition: the first Women's Asian Cup in Hong Kong.
They competed under the Australian coat of arms, wore hand-me-down uniforms from the Socceroos, and faced several Asian national teams, finishing third: a result that was praised as they were the only participating country represented primarily by a club side, while all other teams had a national selection process.
“There was no official Australian women’s soccer team at the time, so we were allowed to compete as an Australian XI and wear official green-and-gold uniforms,” O’Connor said.
“It was a great opportunity to test our skills against full international teams from New Zealand, Thailand, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Singapore. When we arrived to play our first match, there were armed soldiers holding back a huge crowd as we got off the bus. We had never before played in front of so many people.
“We were treated like superstars, and it was quite daunting for Joe and I to sit at the main table and dine with army generals and top Asian representatives.”
O’Connor made even more history during that sweaty August in Hong Kong, scoring Australia’s first ever goal in an Asian competition as they lost 3-2 to Thailand in front of over 4,000 people.
The side went on to win 3-0 against Singapore, with Tagg and O’Connor both scoring — alongside a 14-year-old Julie Dolan, who would go on to be the Matildas’ first official captain — before losing the semi-final to New Zealand 3-2.
They defeated Malaysia 5-0 in a third-place play-off to win the bronze medal, while New Zealand defeated Thailand 3-1 to win gold. Both games attracted over 10,000 spectators each.
"I'll never forget that tournament," Tagg said. "We did create a little bit of history.
“It was the first big international tournament for Australia's women. It’s only in the last couple of years that I realise and recognise the need to tell our history.
"It’s like a little building-block of a bigger story, so that when people look up, ‘when did Australian women’s soccer start?’, it’d be nice to see the original team there.”
O'Connor, Tagg, Dolan, as well as Connie Selby and Cristel Abenthum were chosen in the tournament's "Asian All-Stars" team at its conclusion.
However, this team has not been formally recognised as the first official Matildas team, in part because there was no national selection process run by the governing body like there was for the other competing nations.
“What do I remember?” Larsen said. “Really bad gastro and three days in bed; the heat and the rain; the amazing views from our hotel window; the shopping; being asked to autograph t-shirts and caps; the competition being so hard.
“The team from Thailand had been in an army camp training for months. The New Zealand team were all built like giants and had been together for a few months, and us as basically a club team — to come third overall was a huge achievement.
“It’s something that I am proud of and, unless dementia sets in, something I will always remember and cherish.”
Three years later, in 1978, several St George players who participated in Hong Kong were selected as part of a second representative Australian side.
This time, they set off for Taiwan to take part in the World Women's Invitational Tournament: a competition widely regarded as one of the pre-cursors for the FIFA Women's World Cup, which officially kicked off in 1991.
And Pat and Joe O'Connor, the godmother and godfather of Australian women's football, were there throughout it all.
In 2001, Pat was inducted into the Football Federation Australia Hall of Fame for her contributions to the sport. She retired from playing when she was in her 40s after moving to Perth, while Joe continued playing until he was 51 before passing away earlier this year.
“I don’t think that women’s soccer would be where it is today if not for Pat and Joe," Larsen said.
"What they sacrificed in their personal life is beyond recognition. Their passion for the game, their drive to make women’s soccer a success: there was no one who wanted women’s soccer to succeed more than they did.
"Even after Joe had back surgery, he continued to train with us, encourage us, go into bat for us through all the political shit that went on at times. I would not have had the success I have if not for Pat and Joe.”
The memories of these women are treasure-chests, one of the last remaining precious spaces where the history of Australian women’s football lives on.
Decades of apathy and neglect has meant that this vibrant history has rarely been recorded, rarely archived, rarely acknowledged or celebrated. As such, as the memories of its pioneers begins to fade, so too do the stories of the past that they have carried with them.
"The history of men’s sports is uninterrupted mythmaking," writes author Kate Fagan.
"Most women’s sports, if you search long enough, also have a rich history — it just hasn’t been metabolized into trivia, and it certainly hasn’t been uninterrupted.
"Time, instead of adding to the lustre of women's sports as it does men's, erodes it."
This Women's World Cup provides the most significant opportunity in a generation to unearth these stories and set them down in writing; to better understand where we've come from in order to understand where we're going.
“We are so proud of our present Matildas and how hard they have worked to get us to where we are today," O'Connor said.
"The Women’s World Cup being held here in Australia will show the world that we are a top soccer nation, and that our Matildas will be a force to be reckoned with.
"The growth of women’s soccer will be greatly enhanced by this tournament, and young girls will look up to this team and realise that they could be part of this in the future.
“Sam Kerr is a great role model for the next generation to follow, and the fact that so many Matildas are now being offered starring roles in top overseas teams proves that our standard of soccer is high.
"Keep training, girls – we have a World Cup to win!”