A CHALLENGE has been issued to the Geelong sporting public to get behind the Westfield Matildas, the next stage in the redevelopment of the newly renamed GMHBA Stadium as well as put Geelong on the national – and international – sporting map by turning up in droves to Sunday’s historic international women’s football friendly between the Matildas and China.

The undisputed darlings of Australian female sport, the Matildas currently hold the attendance record for a national female representative team, with 16,829 spectators attending the recent Matildas v Brazil friendly at the Newcastle International Sports Centre in September.

The Newcastle attendance figure broke the record set just days earlier when 15,089 attended the same fixture at Pepper Stadium in the outer Sydney suburb of Penrith, while a healthy midweek crowd of 10,904 saw the Sam Kerr led Matildas completely destroy the visiting Chinese national Women’s team 3-0 on Wednesday night at AAMI Park in Melbourne.

Geelong Region Football Committee (GRFC) Chairperson Jo Plummer is urging all local sports fans to come down on Sunday to GMHBA Stadium - formerly Simonds Stadium –and set a new attendance record for a national female sports representative match in Australia.

“It would be amazing to get close to 17,000 fans pile through the turnstiles on Sunday and really show the country that Geelong is the next big thing in Australian football,” an excited Plummer said.

“Simply going by the growth of participation figures, football in Geelong has grown at a faster rate than both the state and national average each year for the past three consecutive years!

“That shows you the level of interest for our game and with the imminent Stage 5 redevelopment of GMHBA Stadium and the ongoing speculation surrounding expansion of the Hyundai A-League and a Geelong based Victorian Patriots bid, the ingredients are right for a stunning crowd on Sunday for the Matildas international,” Plummer said.

The past three Matildas matches on Australian soil have attracted an aggregate attendance figure of 44,822, at an average of 14,274 per game.

Not only would it be amazing to eclipse that figure at GMHBA Stadium on Sunday, but it would be absolutely historic that the city’s first ever full international football match was to hit the 17,000 mark and obliterate all existing attendance records!

Geelong, it’s up to you to make a mark on Sunday!

The Matildas v China international at GMHBA Stadium kicks-off at 4:30pm and tickets are available through Ticketmaster (http://www.ticketmaster.com.au)