Patricia O'Connor (born November 11, 1941; in

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its ...

, United Kingdom) was the

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

of the first

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 ...

in the mid-1970s. O'Connor was also captain of the St George Budapest Women's Football team which, at that time, had been unbeaten in competitive games in the NSW Women's Soccer competition. O'Connor migrated to Sydney with her family in 1963. She was the foundation member and also captained the Bass Hill women’s team in 1965. She joined Prague women in 1968 and played for them till 1970. O'Connor, along with her husband Joe O'Connor, was a central figure in the organisation and running of the first

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

-wide women's soccer league and the National Women's Soccer Championships, the initial inter-state women's soccer state championships in 1974. They also formed the St George women’s team. O'Connor was also captain of the NSW Women's Soccer representative team during the mid-1970s and captain of the Western Australia Women's Soccer team in 1978. She captained the first Matildas' team who played in the first Asian Cup in 1975 in Hong Kong. She was

capped In sport, a cap is a player's appearance in a game at international level. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of rugby football and association football. In the ea ...

four times for Australia and had the distinction of scoring the first official goal for the Matildas when she netted in a 3–2 loss to Thailand in the first game of that Asian Cup.

References

Living people Australian women's soccer players Women's association football players not categorized by position 1941 births Footballers from Coventry Australia women's international soccer players Soccer players from Sydney Sportswomen from New South Wales English emigrants to Australia Australian people of English descent {{Australia-women-footy-bio-stub