When I hear comments like those of Mark Bosnich criticising the Matildas during the week I just want to scream in frustration.

Female sportspeople have faced so many barriers in the past and I feel like we are finally starting to break some of them down and then you hear something like this.

The Matildas deserve more respect than they have been shown since their “training run” against our very own Emerging Jets boys’ side in Sydney on Wednesday.

In case you missed it, the game involved an understrength Matildas side who had not played together in competition since March 9, playing an elite group of 16-year-old boys who train four nights a week, 48 weeks of the year and play competition matches every weekend against grown men.

The scoreline ended up 7-0 in favour of the boys, who unsurprisingly held a physical advantage and apparently used their superior height to score several of those goals with headers off set pieces.

Unfortunately, all of that information was overlooked when the Matildas became the subject of public criticism.

Leading the charge was former Socceroo and now football commentator Bosnich, who suggested, “next time they say they want to get paid like the Socceroos, I’d be bringing this up”.

Bringing up what exactly? That they were on the wrong side of a lop-sided scoreline in “a training run” against an obviously well-drilled team of footballers.

I would assume the training run, as most are, was organised to give players a good, solid hit-out in the lead-up to the Matildas’ match against New Zealand on June 4.

It would have also been used to tinker with formations and trial fringe players.

It is common practice for women’s teams to play against elite boys’ or men’s teams in trials because they offer an added physical challenge. 

At the moment, most of the players in the current Matildas squad would have come through the junior ranks as the only female players in their teams and possibly competitions.

Playing males in trial matches is a practice of the past and obviously still a practice of the present, but I do not think it will remain a practice of the future as the depth of quality female footballers in this country is set to explode in the next five or 10 years based on the skyrocketing numbers of girls now playing football at grassroots level.

You only have to go to any local sportsground on a Saturday morning in Newcastle and you will see all-girls competitions from under sixes.

That is why it is important we keep removing any barriers, such as the archaic idea that female footballers do not deserve to be professional athletes.

And I am also pretty sure when the Matildas were going through pay disputes with Football Federation Australia last year they just wanted to be paid enough to be able to commit solely to football, so they can be the best they can be when they represent us on the world stage.

Did you know the players in our elite W-League would be lucky to make $100 per game? They all work full-time yet are expected to perform like professional athletes.

It is a building process. The women’s game is much younger than the men’s game but we are all part of “the beautiful game”.

Whether they win, lose or draw in a training run, I do not think that making such flippant comments such as Bosnich’s is helpful to breaking down the barriers that unfortunately still stand in the way of female sportspeople.

Now, I cannot speak for anyone else but I am pretty excited about our chances at the Olympics. And I say ‘our’ because the Matildas are our team. They are representing our country. They are great role models for our kids. And they are our only hopes of winning a football medal at the Olympics.