After being selected for her first Matilda’s team in 1991, the team met their own costs by washing cars and selling cupcakes and chocolates.
No official girls’ competition was the first hurdle – then followed no facilities, very few clubs that recognised women players, no female strips, no sponsorship, and no financial support. This was the scenario faced by Tracey Jenkins when she was a child.
But it was a couple of progressive male PE teachers who noticed the girls kicking the ball around at lunchtime at primary school, who invested the effort to create interschool tournaments.
And from there, her role in and her love of the game flourished, even though opportunities for females didn’t for a long time.
After being selected to her first Matildas’ team in 1991 – the players met their own costs by washing cars and selling cupcakes and chocolates.
And while they were given Australian jerseys that were designed and made for male players, the will and passion and love remained her main drivers. Ultimately, her long held ambition was realised, earning cap number 71 for the Matildas.
Decades later, and as a former international and current coach, Tracey Jenkins, an articulate and an intelligent observer of and advocate for the women’s game, was invited to multiple panels, keynote speaking and media interviews on the eve of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia.
Tracey Jenkins is impressed at the advancement in the quality of local pitches, facilities, onsite commentators, and professional support staff in the club competition for women. “It makes the women feel valued, that the women’s game is valued and important,” she says.
She has also been impressed by the shift to a positive mindset of male club management for the women’s competition.
As a player Tracey Jenkins represented SA and Australia at senior level. She also won the League’s Div 1 Best & Fairest 1984; she won League winners Championship Medals and Cup Winners Medals with Dynamo Uni 1987 and the Cup Winners Medal with Renegades in 1992.
She was awarded the SAWSA Player of the Year 1993 and won Gold Medals in the Asian Masters Games in 1998 & 2000.
She has coached Sturt Marion Women’s Senior Team 1999-2001, SA Masters Team 2001 & 2005 and was also the Head Coach of the Wakala Indigenous Girls Team in the Indigenous Football Festival in Townsville 2009.
In 2019-2020 she was Coach of the Salisbury Inter WNPL Senior team. In 2019 she was voted WNPL Coach of the Year and then moved into coaching with the West Adelaide FC who went on to win the triple, League, Championship, and Cup in 2022. In 2024 she moved to the COVE Football club to help build their women’s program.
Tracey Jenkins was inducted into the Football SA Hall of Fame in 2021 as a Member for Outstanding Contribution.
