Sunday 8 March 2020 was one of the best days of my life.
That night, the Australian women's cricket team beat the Indian women's cricket team in the final of the ICC T20 Women's World Cup in front of 86,174 people on International Women's Day at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. After the game we all danced with Katy Perry as the Aussie women strutted their stuff down the runway to 'Teenage Dream'.
Given that just four days later COVID was well and truly amongst us, I always feel lucky that that day happened.
But the vision of having a close to record breaking crowd that night at the MCG didn't happen overnight.
In the years leading up to the final, it took advocacy from the likes of Kevin Roberts, Nick Hockley, James Sutherland and others to get key stakeholders thinking that big.
I've heard stories about a meeting Hockley held with current and former Australian players, where he floated his team's vision to beat the 90,815 world-record crowd for a women's sporting event (which is still held by California's Rose Bowl Stadium for the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup Final).
The people in the room laughed at him and perhaps thought he was a little mad.
While we fell just short of the world-record that night, a new benchmark in women's sport was created and it helped people to start dreaming about what was possible.
If you see it, you can be it.
I wonder if the team managing the FIFA Women's World Cup in 2023 took inspiration from the ICC T20 Women's World Cup. Because the Matildas took it to a whole new level and captured the imagination of the Australian public in a way I have never seen before.
2023 was the year that the Matildas became mainstream.
The tournament broke several new records including the biggest Australian women's football crowd in history (75,784), an incredible 1.8 million tickets sold making it the most attended FIFA Women's World Cup ever and the match between the Matildas and England in the semifinal was the most-watched television program in Australian history, with 11 million people tuning in.
But forget the figures. The enthusiasm and joy surrounding the Matildas during that period was like nothing I have ever experienced in sport. Little boys and girls wearing their Tillies gear out in the streets and begging for Mackenzie Arnold shirts to be manufactured. People with no interest in football, suddenly becoming very interested in the Matildas.
The Sydney Olympic Games may be a comparable experience, but I was too young in 2000 to have really embraced the experience.
Taylor Swift's 'Eras Tour' is also a fair comparison, but to compare the excitement around a FIFA Women's World Cup to the tour of the biggest musician in the world is incredible in itself.
Post FIFA Women's World Cup, I've been reflecting on what our next big opportunity to set a new benchmark will be. It's a tough question because I would argue that there's no bigger global sport than football.
Whilst I love rugby league, I can't imagine it being able to create a moment as big as the Matildas did last year. Or perhaps I'm not dreaming big enough. Same goes for sports like netball, basketball, rugby union and AFL.
But the challenge should not preclude us from aiming big and there are plenty of opportunities to do so in the lead up to the 2032 Brisbane Olympic Games.
The 2027 Netball World Cup and 2029 Women's Rugby World Cup will be held in Australia.
What can we achieve with these tournaments?
This year's theme for International Women's Day is 'Count her in: Invest in Women. Accelerate Progress'.
The old adage of 'no one cares about women's sport' has been debunked now, but both the ICC T20 Women's World Cup and 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup are prime examples of what happens when you invest in women and then accelerate.
But we need to start that work now.
For magic like the Matildas created you need so many ingredients.
A focus on grassroots and participation. Not only must there be opportunity for young girls to play sport, but we need enough facilities so that these girls can play sport in a safe and welcoming environment.
We need visible role models. Earlier this year, Rugby Australia confirmed an addition $3 million of funding towards the women's game for 2024. This will mean increased investment and higher player payments. This should also give our players the chance to play more frequently and an opportunity to build connection with the next generation of rugby fans.
As we celebrate International Women's Day and reflect on how far we have come, it's important to remember how much work is still left to do.
There's a tremendous opportunity for us in sport to continue to invest in women, especially as so many sports continue to develop elite competitions of their own.
We all have a role to play in this, whether it be as fan, volunteer, administrator, media professional, referee or player.
So let's start accelerating and we can create our next benchmark moment.