Aussie Supporteroos claimed the inaugural Mike Cockerill Cup, a pre-WWC fan friendly named after a legendary Australian football writer Mike Cockerill who has made an invaluable contribution to football reporting and culture.

 

The match was meant to be a celebration of great football writing in all forms - reporting, investigative journalism, history and fiction - and it was held during the Football Writers Festival that took place in Sydney (15-17 July). 

 

The festival is organised by Bonita Mersiades and Fair Play Publishing which specialised in releasing fantastic football books in all genres, such as Encyclopaedia of Matildas, an anthology of emerging women writers Here Us Roar, Whatever It Takes - the Inside Story of the FIFA Way about the corrupt WC 2018/2022 bidding process, young adult football fiction about Jarrod Black and Anna Black, and many others. 

 

Special thanks to the UK writer Flora Snell and Sydney writer Texi Smith and Festival patrons for joining the Aussie Supporteroos for a friendly match and being great sports. 

 

The grassroots initiative of organising fan friendlies during World Cups is a reminder that football gives us fantastic stories at all levels. It's not just elite sports events and leagues that deserve to be written about. We, the fans, are all part of this great event that is going to start shortly. And it's worth sharing our stories of football and cross-cultural encounters. Thanks to social media we all have the means and just to recognise our own value to the game as fans.