Mannum’s Matilda: How Sonia Gegenhuber manifested her dream of playing for Australia

Before Sam Kerr, there was Sonia Gegenhuber.

Sonia, who hails from Mannum, played 75 international matches for Australia from 1989 to 1999 and captained the Matildas in 1998-99.

As a former coach and mentor of some of the current Matildas, she has contributed to the players’ development and success.

But with few role models when she started out, Sonia had to manifest her own path to soccer glory.

Whether you call it soccer or football, what can’t be debated is that excitement about the Matildas has exploded since they reached the semi finals in the 2023 Women’s World Cup.

Such attention has changed the way people in Australia perceive women’s football, and Sonia – who now works as a primary school teacher in Queensland – has seen the dramatic changes firsthand.

“With the Matildas doing so well in the World Cup, there was a huge surge in boys and girls playing football, with 40 to 50 per cent in females,” Sonia says.

“I’m a junior primary school teacher, and the young girls come running up to me and go, ‘I want to be a Matilda, Miss G’.

“I can see how excited they are because they want to be a Sammy Kerr or they want to be Hayley Raso; and now they’ve got their role models: all those who played for the Australian team.

“They can be them because they see them.

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“Last year and the year before, if I did soccer, the boys would say, ‘only boys play that’.

“The World Cup this year has made a huge shift for young boys and girls, (showing them) that everyone can play; and not just football either: you’ve got rugby on TV, you’ve got AFL on TV.

“It’s brilliant.

“You can’t be what you can’t see.”

Sonia Gegenhuber grew up in a sporty family in Mannum, with three brothers and highly supportive parents who drove her to whatever new sport caught her eye.

She loved Mannum’s protective community and the fact that she and her brothers didn’t need a car to get around the town.

“We could go down to the River Murray and say, ‘We’re going to go swim across the river’,” she says.

“You didn’t have all the boats speeding up and down.

“You could just be a kid.”

Although she was always a talented athlete with steely determination – even breaking a national track and field record when she was 12 – she still needed to find role models to inspire her to greater heights.

“That was a dream of mine as a 12-year-old: to play for Australia,” she says.

“I didn’t know what I was going to play, but I was going to play for Australia.

“But it wasn’t until I saw (heptathlete) Glynis Nunn on TV in ‘82 at the Commonwealth Games in Brisbane when she won the gold, I went, ‘Well, she’s done that, so I can represent Australia.’”

To read more of this story, pick up a copy of the summer 2023 edition of Murraylands Life magazine.

Where to get your copy of Murraylands Life magazine

Murraylands Life magazine will be available free of charge at retailers, accommodation providers and visitor information centres around the region, as well as selected VICs around South Australia.

Find your free copy from Tuesday, December 5 at:

• Callington: Callington General Store
• Coonalpyn: To be confirmed
• Karoonda: IGA, Karoonda Hotel, Karoonda Post Office, Karoonda Visitor Information Centre
• Mannum: Big 4 Breeze Holiday Park, Foodland, Mannum Motel, Mid Murray Council, OTR, Pretoria Hotel, United
• Meningie: Foodland, Lake Albert Caravan Park, Meningie Hotel
• Monarto: Monarto Community Postal Agency, Monarto Safari Park
• Murray Bridge: Adelaide Road Motor Lodge, Ampol, Avoca Dell Caravan Park, Big W, Bridge Dental, Bridgeport Hotel, Coles, Coles Express, Daily Deli, Drakes, EG Ampol, Farm Fresh Market, the GCS, IGA Swanport, IGA Westside, Little Local Co, McCue’s Bakery, Murray Bridge Club, Murray Bridge Library, Murray Bridge Marina, Murray Bridge Marketplace, Murray Bridge Newsagency, Murray Bridge Regional Gallery, Murray Bridge Tourist Park, Murray Bridge Visitor Information Centre, OTR Adelaide Road, OTR Eastside, OTR Swanport Road, Rural City of Murray Bridge, Southside Newsagency, Steamers Cafe, Swanport Hotel, Twin Bridges Service Station, United, Warner Close, Woolworths, X Convenience
• Mypolonga: Mypolonga General Store
• Tailem Bend: Big 4 Holiday Park, Coorong District Council, Coorong Realty, Elders Real Estate, Foodland, Riverside Hotel, Rydges Pit Lane Hotel, Smedley Tyre Service, Tailem Bend Bakery, Tailem Bend Community Centre, Tailem Bend Hotel, Tailem Bend Visitor Information Centre
• Wellington: Wellington Hotel, Wellington Mini Mart

Copies may take a few extra days to reach some locations.

If you can’t find a copy at your local pick-up point, let us know by emailing murraylandslife@gmail.com – we’ll circle back to top up supplies as required.

Alternatively, subscribe to Murraylands Life magazine at murraybridgenews.square.site and we’ll post our next four editions direct to you for the cost of postage and handling.

• More information: www.murraylands.life.

Locals support locals. Your support helps Murray Bridge News tell important local stories.