Matildas cap 41 Sue 'Buzz' Buswell thrilled to see how far the game has come for women and girls

Female participation, ranging from under fives through to all age women, today makes up around 28 per cent of Northern NSW Football registrations.

Soon, that figure is hoped to reach 50 per cent.

It is a heart-warming statistic for Buswell, who never had the kind of opportunities granted to aspiring female footballers today.

But the Fletcher 61-year-old and Matildas cap 41 has helped pave the way, and cannot wait to be among over 80,000 spectators filling Stadium Australia on July 20 to watch Australia play Republic of Ireland in their opening match of the FIFA Women's World Cup.

It is a moment Buswell, and the pioneering players of her generation, could never have imagined.

"The World Cup here, it's just wonderful," Buswell told the Newcastle Herald as we talked to past representatives in the countdown until the World Cup starts.

"It's worth all of the hard work and everything that we went through to see what the girls have achieved now and what they're getting."

As a young girl, Buswell, known widely in football circles as "Buzz", wasn't allowed to play with the boys and didn't have a competition of her own.

Instead, she plied her trade "with the boys in the street" in Gateshead West.

Things started to change in the 70s, and Buswell finally got to play competition soccer at age 11. The year was 1973.

"I quit netball one Saturday and started playing soccer Sunday," Buswell said.

She played in a women's under-16 and a boys' under-14 competition. One was on Saturday, the other on Sunday.

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In 1974, Buswell stepped up to the women's competition and represented Northern NSW at the inaugural National Championship as a 12-year-old.

She was quickly identified as a player of the future but sustained a cruel setback in 1977-78 with a fractured back which required spinal fusion surgery and a long recovery.

Buswell was back in action at the 1979 national titles.

By 1986, she was wearing the green and gold jersey and went on to make 11 appearances for Australia across two years before an ankle injury cut short the uncompromising defender's international career.

Playing in the national team then "wasn't easy".

It required financing your own way abroad for tournaments, and Buswell never got to play on home soil.

"You had to fundraise to go," Buswell said. "It was the same even with the club football. You never got anything from the clubs.

"So my dad used to buy cans of drink from the supermarket and sell it at the ground because they wouldn't even open the canteen for the women.

"He'd sell the cans of drink at the ground and the profit that was made went to the girls to buy trophies and things."

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