It wasn't all good nudes for Stripping Matildas

The senior men's side, boasting the likes of Manchester United keeper Mark Bosnich and Leeds wonder winger Harry Kewell, are proving themselves a match for the best in the business - and that includes Brazil - and the Under-17 Joeys came within a penalty of handing Australia their first World Cup trophy last weekend.

The Joeys, many of whom are already playing in Europe despite still being in their teens, showed defensive savvy and proficiency in attack against Brazil in the Under-17 final in New Zealand and lost out in the cruellest possible way, penalties.

Which brings us back, well back and front, to the Stripping Matildas.

The Australian women's team don't have the same profile as the men or the boys, but better figures, so they used them to improve their profile.

It's a bit of a no-brainer, really. A group of female footballers take off their kit for the camera, put the pin-up poses in a calendar, run off 40,000 or so copies, just to be on the safe side, call a press conference and let the testosterone factor do the rest.

Of course, everything was done in the best possible taste. It was not a case of sex sells or cashing in on nudity. No, no.

'Not many people knew that Australian women's soccer makes its Olympic debut next year,' said a spokesman, yes, a man, for the team.

'Now everybody will know who they are.' And, presumably, rush along to the games and wait in anticipation for the ritual swapping of shirts. But that does not worry the Matildas, either.

One said: 'People have talked about attracting undesirable people but I don't know what an undesirable person in a crowd is.' Ugh.

But, wait, the calendar has not been all good nudes for women's soccer.

The Australian Olympic Committee have got their knickers in a twist, not about the women taking theirs off, but over the use of the sacred word 'Olympic' on the calendar's cover.

Subtitling the publication 2000 Olympic Year Calendar was a no-no, seemingly - you have to pay up front to use the word Olympic on items ranging from tea mugs to golf tees - and the Australian Women's Soccer Association has agreed to blur the naughty bits on the next print run.

You would have thought the Olympic people would have welcomed the publicity and being part of the fun.

The marketing people for the 2002 World Cup mascots, which were unveiled the day after the Matildas, might need a bit of help pushing the 'futuristic, computer-animated' characters.

They are nude, too, and translucent but the Atmos family are far from loveable.

Sure, computer game obsessed Japanese are weaned on cartoon characters and Hello Kitty is a national treasure, but these guys look revolting.

Their only hope is doing a deal with the Matildas to guest in their next calendar. It's a win-win situation, with the Atmos' gaining street cred and the Aussie girls being entitled to use that other magic marketing phrase, the World Cup.

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