Create an experience with Sally Shipard

At just sixteen years of age, Sally made not only her international debut, but her Olympic debut, and became a fully-fledged member of the Matildas. Her FIFA Women's World Cup debut came two years later.

 Sally is Wagga Wagga's only home-grown footballer to have represented Australia.  

In 2003, Sally’s family made a brave decision that involved her Mum and youngest brother moving to Sydney, so that she could attended Hills Sports High School and become a NSW Institute of Sport scholarship holder. Sally’s U20 performances quickly led to selection for the national team. 

Over the next 10 years she made 62 appearances for the Matildas. She represented Australia at the FIFA World Cup in 2007 and 2011. In 2010 Sally was a member of the Matildas team that won the AFC Asian Cup in China. Her crucial spot-kick in the final helped Australia defeat Korea DPR on penalties. 

From 2009 to 2014, Sally played 30 games for Canberra United in the W-League and scored four goals along the way.  She was named the W-League Player of the Year in 2011/2012, the same year in which Canberra United won the league title. It was around this time Sally began to be active more broadly, utilising sport as a vessel for messages re the LGBTQI+ community and mental health issues. She has spoken publicly about her eating disorder, of which existed in various forms along side her sporting career. 

 In 2012, Sally went on loan for ten games to Bayer Leverkusen in the German Bundesliga – Germany's premier women's division.  Her efforts in the second half of the German season proved vital as Leverkusen successfully avoided relegation to the second division. 

In 2014, Sally retired from football with ongoing degenerative knee issues. She started her own business as a Marriage Celebrant (in anticipation of marriage equality) which was complimentary to her Carpentry apprenticeship. Sally continued with her carpentry pursuit until early 2023, when she was diagnosed with a rare form of ovarian cancer. 

Throughout her career, naturally, highs and lows were a plenty. Making a conscious effort to create a team and holding herself accountable to getting better, to better understand herself as a human has always been a priority. The most significant internal strides have been made since retirement and on reflection more abruptly in the past year. 

Over the past couple of years, Sally has been recovering from an invasive surgery/chemo to remove her Ovarian cancer and embracing/experiencing the roller coaster of change alongside her partner April, down on the far south coast of NSW.