Former Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce has admitted to accidentally watching the wrong Matildas v France match on the weekend, after he attended a pub that showed a replay of a friendly match instead of the nail-biting quarter final.
Joyce posted a video to social media on Saturday night of himself at a local pub watching a Matildas game, however it was later discovered that it was a replay of the Matildas v France friendly match that had been played prior to the start of the FIFA Women’s World Cup tournament.
Joyce and his fellow viewers did not twig that it was the wrong match until later.
Appearing on Sunrise on Monday morning, Joyce told host Natalie Barr that as the rest of the country held its breath as the Matildas endured a penalty shootout, Joyce was under the impression they had won with a clear 1-0 victory.
”I went to the pub to watch it on the weekend,” he said. ”And you’ll see it on the Facebook post – I think we were watching the wrong game.”
“I know it was an incredible penalty shootout which we never [saw]. We went and had dinner because we thought they’d won 1-0.”
On Saturday night, Joyce posted a video where he said: “In every country pub, city club, suburban home they are doing this tonight. Watching the Matilda’s. If someone had said 10 years ago that you would leave after the local rugby game to watch the “women’s soccer” I don’t think they would have agreed.” The video had footage of the television screen, which was showing a match that was not at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, where the quarter final was being held.