'Crazy' realisation as Fowler's rapid rise hit home
Mary Fowler ponders countless hours spent playing all kinds of sports and games at a little-known beach, living in cars and tents, bouncing between Australia and Europe as a kid, and her rise from humble beginnings to football superstardom.
“It’s quite crazy to me … There’s so many moments where I could have made a different decision and then maybe I’d be doing something else, or I’m not in the position I’m in today,” Fowler tells Wide World of Sports.
In 100 days’ time, Fowler and her Matildas teammates will be in Paris as the Olympic opening ceremony lights up the French capital.
“We just spent so much time there. After school we’d go down to the beach and that’s where we’d spend most of our time.”
But living in cars and tents was often reality as the family struggled for money. And even when they did live in a normal home, they didn’t have a TV.
The skills Fowler crafted on Trinity Beach bamboozled other kids, including any goalkeeper, at Leichhardt FC and Saints FC, where the prodigiously talented junior often played against boys.
At the age of just 10, she was playing in the Queensland under-12 girls team.
Come the age of 11, Fowler and her family were living in the Netherlands. She played for BVV Barendrecht, honing her football craft in Europe between the ages of 11 and 14.
