Female Football Week - Alicia Ferguson-Cook

Alicia Ferguson-Cook is next to feature in our Female Football Week profiles, having heralded from Brisbane and playing for her local club Mount Gravatt before embarking on an illustrious career that has seen her represent the Matildas, debuting at the tender age of 15 during the Matildas' European tour in August 1997 before playing in their 1999 and 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup campaigns. After a period of injury Alicia became one of Australia's most solid midfielders, whilst at club level she enjoyed success with Queensland Sting in the Women's National Soccer League and then Brisbane Roar in the W-League. In 2012–13. She also played for Millwall Lionesses in the English FA Women's Premier League. Alicia now resides in London where she’s an Assistant Producer on the FIFA Football TV Show following stints as a commentator on the Westfield W-League and also with ESPN during the 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup.

FB Media caught up with Alicia for a Q&A.... How did you get involved with the game? I’m the youngest of 5 kids and was a tomboy growing up so used to play in the backyard with my brother, Scott. How old were you when you started playing? I can’t ever remember not playing football. We used to travel around Far North Queensland to my brother’s football carnivals and I was always kicking a ball around. But as soon as I was old enough, I joined a local boys team in Cairns (where we lived at the time). Which Brisbane based clubs have you played for? When we moved back to Brisbane from Cairns, my brother joined our local team, Mt Gravatt (we went to St Bernard’s Primary School & later Clairvaux MacKillop college across the road from the club) so I would go along to his training sessions and kick a ball up against the wall. The women’s coach, Mr Clayton (Ray), spotted me and asked if I was interested in joining the club. I ended up playing on Saturday with the boys and on Sunday with the girls. Then when I was 13 I got offered a scholarship to the Queensland Academy of Sport (QAS) which I accepted.

The QAS team would play in the local league and in later years become the Brisbane Roar team during the W-League season. I also had a brief spell at Redlands United when I retired from international football. What were your fondest memories from playing in Brisbane? Definitely not the prickles or hard ground at the Geebung football pitches!!

It’s hard to pick just one as I’ve got so many fond memories of playing in Queensland, so here’s two:

Winning the Women’s National League final against NSW at the old Lang Park
Winning the inaugural final of the W-League against Canberra at Ballymore, even though I’d ruptured my cruciate in the semi-final and couldn’t play the final.

When did you realise you had a talent for the game? I never really thought I was talented. I knew I had resilience, tenacity and a burning desire to win but never talent. What was it like being a female player in your early years? It was great. I always had the support of my coach, team mates and their parents when I was playing with the boys and the only grief I used to get was from the opposition or their parents because I was better than their sons. I used to think of it as a compliment and use it as motivation to get even better. There was one season when I didn’t get selected for the boys 1st division team because I was a girl, but I ended up getting called in to play for them most weekends anyway. It only fuelled the fire inside of me to prove people wrong. What do you like most about the game? There is no other place on earth where I feel pure joy and happiness. The football pitch has taught me so many life lessons and has been my sanctuary when things aren’t going that well in my life. The simplicity of the game and what it’s given me is something I’ll never take for granted. What was it like playing at the highest level of the game? Representing Australia was always a proud moment, and I’m extremely grateful I was able to wear the green and gold at a home Olympic Games and two World Cups. What would have been the lowest point during your career? Being forced to “retire" from international football for a couple of years because of the personal bias of a coach. What has been the highlight of your career? Walking out to the home crowd’s deafening roar in the opening ceremony of the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. How do you compare the women's game in Australia to the Rest of the World? For Australia’s population and with the competition between so many other sports, I think we’re doing great. We’re producing world class players but just need to take the next step and make a big impact at a major tournament. How did you get involved in the media side of the game? When I retired in 2009, I started doing some co-commentating for ABC on the W-League. From there I was offered a position with ESPN as one of their international pundits on the 2011 Women’s World Cup in Germany, where I met my husband, who was also working for ESPN at the time. I moved to London in 2012 to be with Stephen and became a Researcher and then an Assistant Producer at BT Sport working on the Premier League, Women’s Super League and European football. I’ve been working on the FIFA Football weekly TV show for the past two years (used to be called Futbol Mundial) which is on beIn Sports in Australia.

Would you say that football has provided you with a wonderful lifestyle? Absolutely. I’ve traveled all over the world (including North Korea 3 times!), made lifelong friends and met my awesome husband through football. I’m extremely grateful for my amazing life so far. If you were in the top job, what changes to the game would you make nationally? The state Academy and Institutes were the backbone of development when I came through, but that seems to have changed quite a lot due to funding cuts across the board. So facilities and support services have been compromised which is a shame. I think the W-League season needs to be longer. However, I understand the financial & logistical constraints that go hand in hand with this proposition. Also, we used to host international tournaments (Australia Cup etc) that attracted some of the best teams in the world, but that doesn’t seem to happen anymore either. It would be nice for the Aussie public to see first hand how close we are to the best in the world. Any advice you could offer young female players in the game today?