The inaugural Sue Monteath Award for the Queensland Academy of Sport (QAS) Player of the Year was presented at the QAS Girls presentation luncheon held earlier this week.
Junior Matildas player Jamilla Rankin was awarded the inaugural Sue Monteath Award at the 2019 presentation event.
Sue Monteath was the first ever Matildas captain from Queensland, and attended the event as Guest of Honour to present the award.
The 2019 QAS Player of the Year Jamilla Rankin played for the QAS U17 National Training Centre (NTC) team this year and was part of the national team squad at the recent AFC U16 Women’s Championships in Thailand, where the Junior Matildas reached the Semi Finals for the first time in ten years.
The timing of the presentation coincided with the 40th anniversary of the first Matildas game, a game in which Monteath played.
Reflecting on the last four decades at the event, Monteath said it was wonderful to see how the women’s game had developed since her time as a Matilda.
“It’s been amazing to see what’s happened since I started playing football and today has just been superb seeing all these girls so confident and excellent players and wonderful athletes,” Monteath said.
“It’s absolutely fabulous to see the girls recognised by QAS and Football Queensland, so it’s been a wonderful experience today to be involved with this group of people.”
Sue Monteath made 47 appearances for the Matildas between 1978 and 1987, more than any other player during that period, and was inducted into the FFA Hall of Fame in 2004.
