The Matildas have a motto: ‘til it’s done. Earlier this week, several die-hard fans took that literally – going to extreme lengths to catch Australia’s clash with the United States. Cancelled trains, a last-minute hire car and an eight-hour dash across France – the fans’ journey was as chaotic as the Matildas’ Olympic campaign. It ended in the same way, too: disappointment.
On Wednesday morning, Gare de Lyon in Paris was throbbing with yellow-clad Matildas fans and Australian journalists when a grave voice came over the speaker system. Bad weather had left a tree on a train line, which had in turn caused issues with electrical systems. Not a single main line train would leave the station for hours, with most of the hourly or so trains to Marseille – a three-and-a-half-hour journey – cancelled.
Sam Goerling was at the station expecting to board a train to Marseille ahead of the Matildas’ clash that evening with the USA. She had travelled from Australia for the Olympics, but her ticket to Matildas’ final group stage clash had been her only opportunity to see the national team. When Goerling heard the station announcement, her heart sank.
“I was so convinced there was a solution,” she said. “I checked the buses, rideshare, flights, nothing would work. When it became apparent that even if the high-speed trains resumed, there would be no places left, I tried the hire cars.”
When Goerling reached the front of the hire car queue, she was told there was still a car left if she wanted it. In a split second, knowing other Matildas fans had also been left stranded, she agreed to rent the car – and posted a message on a Facebook group for travelling fans offering up a ride.
“When they handed me the keys my stomach dropped briefly,” Goerling said. “I realised the enormity of the split-second decision I had just made; I was about to drive eight hours, on the right-hand side of the road for the first time, in a car with the gear stick on the opposite side, through Paris and almost the entire length of France, with a tight deadline.”
It was a tight deadline indeed. The Matildas kicked off at 7pm, and it is a seven-and-a-half hour drive from Paris to Marseille. By the time Goerling and two fellow fans were in the car, it was unclear if they would make it in time for kick-off. “I wasn’t going to give up without trying,” she said. Goerling, from country Western Australia, put the pedal to the metal. “I’d been training my whole life for this long drive,” she added.
By the time they reached Lyon, about halfway, what they had dubbed “Plan D” hit trouble. High levels of pollution in the area had led to speed restrictions. They hit problems again closer to Marseille, taking wrong turns that cost them time.
At long last, the stadium was in sight. The trio found a park and “legged it” for the stadium. “We had done it,” Goerling remembers thinking. “Our crazy, spontaneous, and resolute Plan D had worked.”
Alas, it had not. Outside the stadium, Goerling was met by security who told her it was too late to enter, given the game was already into the second half. The Australian pleaded with them, explaining the train saga, the drive, her passion for the Matildas. One security guard left to seek higher orders, but by the time he returned, the match was over. Goerling was gutted.
But despite the frenetic dash to Marseille, failing to see a single minute of the action, and the Matildas ultimately exiting the tournament, Goerling insists she would not have done it any other way.
“We did everything we could, short of bending time and space, to arrive safely,” she said. “The ending was a bit bitter, but the journey was epic, and to be honest a lot of fun. I set out to watch the Matildas game but instead did a great French road-trip with fellow Tillies fans.”
