Rhali Dobson (born 21 April 1992) is an Australian

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

player who played for the

Australia women's national under-17 soccer team The Australian women's national under-17 soccer team represents Australia in international women's under-17 soccer. The team is controlled by the governing body for soccer in Australia, Football Federation Australia (FFA), which is currently a ...

in 2007,

Australia women's national soccer team The Australia women's national soccer team is overseen by the governing body for soccer in Australia, Football Australia, which is currently a member of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and the regional ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) s ...

(Matildas) in 2014 and in the W-League for Melbourne City (2017-21) and Newcastle Jets.

Early life

Dobson began playing soccer at the age of five in her hometown of

Wauchope, New South Wales Wauchope () is a town in the Mid North Coast region of New South Wales, Australia. It is within the boundaries of the Port Macquarie-Hastings Council area. Wauchope is inland on the Hastings River and the Oxley Highway west of Port Macquar ...

, playing for the Wauchope Soccer Club.

Club career

Dobson began her career at

Newcastle Jets Newcastle United Jets Football Club, commonly known as Newcastle Jets, is an Australian professional soccer club based in Newcastle, New South Wales. It competes in the country's premier competition, the A-League, under licence from The Australia ...

and was a member of their 2008-09 inaugural W-League squad which came runner up in the premier and semi-finalists in that season's

championships In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

. She would continue to play intermittent seasons for the Jets, but was dropped from the squad in 2012, joining first Merewether United and then moving to

Adamstown Rosebud Adamstown Rosebud Football Club (founded July 12, 1889) is a semi-professional soccer club based in Adamstown, New South Wales, Adamstown a suburb of Newcastle, New South Wales, Newcastle, New South Wales. The club is part of Northern NSW Footba ...

in circumstances that the ''

Newcastle Herald The ''Newcastle Herald'' (formerly branded as ''The Herald'') is a local tabloid newspaper published daily, Monday to Saturday, in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. It is the only local newspaper that serves the greater Hunter Region and ...

'' described as "a far from amicable split". Dobson's improved form would see her make top scorer in the WPL and return to the Jets in 2013. A strong 2014 season saw Dobson selected for the National Team and score 6 times for the Jets, including her first top-flight brace in a 4–0 win over

Adelaide United Adelaide United Football Club is a professional Association Football, soccer club based in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. The club participates in the A-League Men under North American professional sports league organization#Systems ar ...

. She briefly returned to Merewether United for the 2017

Northern NSW Football Northern NSW Football (NNSWF) is the governing body of soccer in the north of New South Wales, Australia. It is a member of the national governing body, Football Australia. The Federation was established the 9 September 1884 as the Northern Dist ...

Women's Premier League season, after making 55 total appearances for the Jets since the 2008 season. On 24 September 2017 Dobson joined title defenders Melbourne City. With City, she won two W-League Championships in the 17/18 and 19/20 seasons, making a second-half substitute appearance in the

2018 W-League Grand Final The 2018 W-League grand final was the final match of the 2017–18 W-League season and deciding the champions of women's football in Australia for the season. The match took place at Allianz Stadium in Sydney, Australia on 18 February 2018 an ...

2–0 victory over

Sydney FC Sydney Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Sydney, New South Wales. It competes in the country's premier men's competition, A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL). The club was fo ...

. Dobson made her 100th appearance in the W-League in the 20/21 season, the 28th player to do so since the league was founded. Dobson announced her retirement from football in March 2021 in order to support her partner, Matt Stonham, who has brain cancer. On 25 March 2021 she played her last professional match for Melbourne City in which she also scored a goal in a 2–1 win over

Perth Glory Perth Glory Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Perth, Western Australia. It competes in the country's premier men's competition, A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues. Founded in 19 ...

, coincidentally the team against which she'd made her W-League debut. Dobson returned to amateur football in May with men's side Bolwarra Lorn, coached by Stonham, in the Australian

Zone League Two The Northern New South Wales Zone Football League Two or Zone League Two is an Australian soccer league in Northern New South Wales. It is the fifth tier of soccer in the Northern New South Wales Football 6-tier system behind the NPL Northern NS ...

. This included two games in Bolwara's

FFA Cup The Australia Cup, formerly known as the FFA Cup until the 2021 season, is the national football knockout cup competition in Australia. This annual competition is organised by Football Australia, formerly known as Football Federation Australia ...

campaign, culminating in a 13–0 defeat by semi-professional men's side

Lambton Jaffas Lambton Jaffas Football Club is an Australian soccer club based in Lambton a suburb of Newcastle, New South Wales. They compete in the National Premier Leagues Northern NSW, the highest division of the New South Wales Football Leagues. History ...

in the preliminary fourth round.

International career

Dobson played three matches for Australia under-17 in 2007, including at the

2007 Australian Youth Olympic Festival The 2007 Australian Youth Olympic Festival was the fourth edition of the Australian Youth Olympic Festival. It was held from 17 to 21 January 2007. Participant nations Of the 23 countries invited, 20 of them participated in the games. They we ...

and

2007 AFC U-16 Women's Championship The 2007 AFC U-16 Women's Championship was the second instance of the AFC U-16 Women's Championship. It was held from March 8 to 17 in Malaysia. The top three teams qualified for 2008 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup. Group stage Group A ---- ---- ...

. Dobson made her international debut for

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

in April 2014 against

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

, coming on as a late substitute for

Lisa De Vanna Lisa Marie De Vanna (born 14 November 1984) is an Australian professional soccer player who plays as a forward for Perth Glory. She has previously played for Adelaide Sensation, Western Waves, Doncaster Rovers Belles, AIK, Perth Glory, Washingt ...

to see out a 2-1 friendly victory in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

Personal life

Dobson works full-time as an occupational therapist in New South Wales. Former

player Tracie McGovern is a cousin of Dobson. Dobson got engaged to her partner, Matt, at her last match for Melbourne City in March 2021.

References

External links

Melbourne City player profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dobson, Rhali Australian women's soccer players Living people Newcastle Jets FC (A-League Women) players Melbourne City FC (A-League Women) players A-League Women players 1992 births Women's association football forwards Occupational therapists