Diana Matheson’s impact on women’s soccer and the behind the scenes look of "The Pitch" documentary

JORDAN FREW/GATG

Diana Matheson had a vision for women’s soccer in Canada. Through her determination and hard work, she made that vision a reality, co-founding the Northern Super League (NSL), a professional women’s soccer league in Canada.

The NSL comprises 6 teams, giving Canadian athletes the opportunity to play professional soccer in their home country.

While Matheson was building the NSL, director Michèle Hozer followed her progress over a couple years to create The Pitch, a documentary that gives a behind-the-scenes look at Matheson and her journey to launch the NSL. 

The Pitch explains how there was nowhere in Canada for Canadian women soccer players to play, and instead they would have to go to the United States or Europe. A main goal for Matheson was to change this and create a domestic league, particularly important for up-and-coming Canadian female soccer players.

A true pioneer for women’s soccer, Matheson has achieved all this and more.

“It’s not just athletes, right? Like the sport economy, the sport industry is a huge business, and we are early days in Canada,” says Matheson at the Vancouver screening of The Pitch when asked about the growing female representation of aspiring female athletes. “We support girls and women in sports. We watch it on TV, and it means jobs for athletes, but also coaches, referees, sports medicine, women in media, women in business. There’s jobs and careers for thousands more people out there because of this industry.”

Matheson can see the positive impact the NSL has had on so many people, from the players to the league employees to the fans.

The Pitch shows more than just the process of creating the NSL, it also shows Matheson’s journey as a player, person, and woman.

This documentary explores very real topics, including Canada’s women’s soccer players’ strained relationship with Soccer Canada and the lack of support they felt, the challenges of returning to the national team after having a baby, the pay gap between the women’s and men’s teams, and more.

While the documentary sheds light on these important topics, it also provides career highlights of Matheson, showing how she etched herself into women’s soccer history even before creating the NSL. 

The 2012 London Olympics had one of these moments, when Matheson scored the game winning goal that won Canada their first ever Bronze Olympic medal, in women’s soccer.

The NSL has completed its inaugural season, with the Vancouver Rise FC reigning victorious in the NSL Final, officially being named the inaugural season champions and winners of the Diana B. Matheson trophy.

With the league still learning and growing from its first year, Matheson knows the impact the behind-the-scenes access of The Pitch can have.

“I think we saw the power of a sport documentary and what it did for F1 and now there’s so many out there,” says Matheson when discussing this access and how this will help grow the NSL. “But I think you know, the magic of women’s sports, I think, is that we’re a little more relatable. You can come meet the players after the game, get autographs, and I think this is a peek into how the whole thing got built.”

Matheson wants her impact to reach more than just the soccer community, “I hope not just women’s soccer players feel seen by [The Pitch], but women in many, many industries because I know we’re all going through similar things.” 

A documentary that has many relatable moments for women in sports, Matheson’s impact can reach those outside of the soccer community as well.

A historic time for women’s soccer, The Pitch is a documentary every fan and woman will want to watch, and can do so on TVO Docs’ YouTube.