As an integral member of the Matildas squad for Paris 2024, Ellie Carpenter is more than just a fine and fiercely competitive football player — she is also a pioneer who's changing the way people feel about women's sport.
ELLIE CARPENTER is staring down the barrel of the camera like it's one of her opponents. The 24-year-old defender for the beloved Australian women's national football team (better known as the Matildas ) and the revered Olympique Lyonnais Féminin French club team has her steely gaze fixed, eyes narrowed, bold brows cutting a fierce line. It's an intimidating sight, until the tension bursts with her sudden laughter as she wrangles a sweater tied around her neck like a scarf. The moment passes, and the game face returns.
Later, Carpenter relaxes on a couch beside me. The quick-to-laugh, genial woman before me seems leagues apart from the ferocious footballer we've seen barrelling down the flanks of the world's pitches, monitoring every movement, revving up her teammates with a snarl. In her mind, though, there's no dichotomy between Ellie the footballer and Ellie the person.
“I feel like, obviously, there is a part of me off the field that people don't see all the time. But I stay me and authentic through it all, on and off the field. And I think that's also what I'm proud of — [not having to] put on a face,” she tells me with a laugh, adopting a deep voice to play the faux characters: “ This is me, the footballer; this is me, off [the field] — I feel like I'm the same”.
It feels like a footballing destiny must have been written in Carpenter's stars, but the real origin story is surprisingly down-to-earth — though growing up with two PE teachers for parents, she surely had at least a hint of athleticism in her blood. “If you name a sport, I reckon I did it,” she tells me. “My parents would be driving from soccer, to tennis , to dancing. On the weekends, during the week, after school, I'd be doing everything under the sun.”
