They do not have marked soccer fields in Tennant Creek, a town in Australia’s Northern Territory, halfway across the continent from Sydney. So one morning last week, before nearly 100 kids arrived to play a round-robin tournament, three fields had to be laid out on a big grass oval with cones, flags and portable goals.
The children were bused in from schools all over the Barkly Region, a vast expanse of the outback that is about the size of Finland but has a population of only about 8,000 people. For some, the trip meant enduring long stretches on rutted dirt roads. One school brought 12 students, about one-third of its entire enrollment across. Another did not bring enough to field a team, so it borrowed two players from a nearby community whose families are part of the same Aboriginal language group.
Boys and girls of all different ages played games together. For two days, the sport that can be played anywhere enlivened a community where the separation from the Women’s World Cup’s main stage is more than just thousands of miles.
“It’s a real soccer carnival,” said Annastashia August, an 11-year-old from Tennant Creek who is Warumungu, the people who are the traditional custodians of the land where the town now sits.
Soccer is Annastashia’s favorite sport, but this…
