Australian teenager Mary Fowler makes international debut at 15

Alen Stajcic introduced Mary Fowler to senior women’s football in the dying embers of their match against Brazil. Though the result must have been settled by then, Fowler’s induction to the football pitch in place of Sam Kerr would surely notch as one of the most iconic moments in women’s football.

Fowler made her debut aged 15 years and 162 days, accordingly becoming the fifth youngest player having represented the Australian women’s football team. The most youngest is Sharon Wass, who debuted for Australia in 1981 whilst still being aged 14 years and 240 days. Interestingly, the person whom she substituted on the field topples Fowler in this list.

Sam Kerr had played her first senior match for Australia in 2009 when she was just twelve days younger than Fowler.

The 15-years-old teenager’s rise to prominence has been instant, as she played her opening match for the Young Matildas in March itself. Right now, she represents Bankstown City in the NSW Women’s NPL, and his impressive performances over the past one year have surely attracted attention from the national coach too.

Fowler was particularly sumptuous in the AFF Women’s Championship in Indonesia. She scored 10 goals in six appearances for her team and that somewhat prompted current coach Alan Srajcic to draft her into the team. She was inducted quite late in the squad, but this tour would definitely be memorable for her due to her debut senior appearance.

Despite her exploits at such a young age, Fowler might be unable to represent Australia as she was born to an Irish father. This implies that she would be qualified to play for Ireland instead, and her siblings have already done the same.

Her sister Ciara and brother Quivi have already played for Ireland, and even Maty Fowler insisted that she would prefer playing for the same country as her siblings.

She reportedly remarked, “I want to play for Australia, but obviously Ciara and Quivi have played for Ireland. And we all want to play together for the same country. Family is really important to me, it’s important to all of us. I’m not in any rush to make that decision right now, I’m only 15, so we’ll see.”

Whether or not she plays for Ireland, the feat that she has achieved with Australia will always be remembered.