Australian football legend honoured in Queen’s Birthday awards

Westfield Matildas and Australian football legend Julie Dolan has been recognised in the 2018 Queen’s Birthday Honours List with the Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for her “significant service to football as an administrator, player and coach, and as an ambassador for elite player development and junior participation.”

A pioneer of women’s football in Australia and an FFA Hall of Fame inductee, Dolan is currently the football technical director at the International Football School on the Central Coast of New South Wales.

Dolan has previously been named International Federation of Football History and Statistics Oceania Player of the Century and has received the Queen Elizabeth II Australian Sports Medal.

Football Federation Australia chairman Steven Lowy said the award is testament to the former Matildas' captain's influence on developing the round ball game in Australia.

“Julie richly deserves this wider public recognition for the contribution she has made – and continues to make – to Australian national life through football," Lowy said.

"In her services as a player captaining her country, but perhaps even more significantly as an administrator, she has been a major force behind the growth of women’s football.

"Quite simply, the game wouldn’t be where it is now without Julie Dolan."

Julie Dolan

 

She started playing at the age of 14 and became Australia's inaugural captain at just 16, leading the team out against New Zealand in 1979.

Australia played only occasionally throughout the 1980’s but despite limited opportunities, Dolan played 34 matches for Australia across a 14-year career, including 18 full internationals.

A commanding central midfielder, she played in the World Invitational Tournament twice, the first Oceania Cup in 1983 and the first Women's World Cup in China in 1988.

In 1988, the Australian Women's Soccer Association created the Julie Dolan Medal for the best female footballer of the year.

In 2016, football became the first major Australian sport to jointly name its prestigious awards event in honour of both a legendary female and male player – the Dolan Warren Awards – with Dolan honoured alongside national men's icon Johnny Warren.

Julie Dolan

 

JULIE DOLAN, MEMBER OF THE ORDER OF AUSTRALIA (AM)

For significant service to football as an administrator, player and coach, and as an ambassador for elite player development and junior participation.

Service includes

Director of Sport, International Football School, current.

Football Federation Australia

Ambassador, 2004.

Julie Dolan Medal established for Australia's best women's soccer players annually.

State Captain, 1977-1983, 1986.

Matilda's Team Member, 14 years.

Midfielder Australian Captain, 1979, 1980, 1983, 1984, 1988.

Captain of the Team of the Decade 1979-1989.

Kanto Gakuin Women's Junior College Lecturer, English Department, 1996-2000.

Awards and recognition include

Inductee, Hall of Fame, Football Federation of Australia.

Australian Baggy Green Cap No. 1 Australian Women's Soccer, 2007.

Inductee, Soccer Hall of Fame, Soccer Australia, 2000.

Recipient, Medal of Excellence, Soccer Australia, 1999.

Oceania Football Confederation, International Women's Footballer of the Century, 1998

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This article was originally published on the CommBank Matildas website.
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