At a glance…
- Mary Fowler has been a mainstay of the Australian women’s football scene since her teens.
- She’s an author, advocate and artist who is playing by her own rules.
When I sat in the stands for the inaugural match at the FIFA Women’s World Cup in Sydney in July 2023, I was transfixed by one player: Mary Fowler.
The game was Ireland against Australia, my home country versus my adopted one. For Mary, she was playing for her home country against her ancestral one. Born in Cairns to an Irish father and Papua New Guinean mother, she was playing for Australia while her Irish family watched on from the other side of the divide.
As my partner and I found ourselves quietly rooting for both sides, I wondered if Mary’s family was doing the same, although I suspected they were probably a little more biased towards Australia for Mary’s sake.
But there was something about Mary Fowler that stayed with me. I followed her career from there, watching as she became one of the most recognisable young footballers in the world.
And yet, the more I learned about Mary, the more interested I became in the parts of her life that had nothing to do with football.
Football superstar, author, fashion figure and one half of one of Australia’s most talked-about sporting couples with Nathan Cleary, Mary Fowler is much more than an incredible athlete.
Mary Fowler is more than a footballer
But she is a pretty good footballer. Mary has been playing football at an elite level since she was a teenager. She made her professional debut in her early teens and joined Montpellier in France in 2020 before moving to Manchester City in 2022.
Her rise with the Matildas has been equally remarkable. At 15, she joined the Young Matildas and was the highest goal scorer at the AFF Women’s Championship, earning the Golden Boot. She later made her senior Matildas debut.
She was the youngest player in Australia’s 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup squad, although a hamstring injury prevented her from making her tournament debut. By the 2023 World Cup, she had become an integral member of the team, including scoring in Australia’s dramatic quarter-final penalty shootout against France.
She also represented Australia at the Tokyo and Paris Olympics and in the AFC Women’s Asian Cup in 2026. But football is only one part of her story.
Mary Fowler’s life beyond football
In November 2025, Fowler released her memoir, Bloom: Creating a life I love. She described the book as “a bit of a keepsake journal for myself”, offering a glimpse into a side of her life away from the football pitch.
In her memoir, she explores her own experiences with mental health. After the book’s release, she launched a creative project, My Journal is Full, as another way to share her journey and connect with people who may be struggling.
“It’s comforting to know I’m not the only person that was struggling,” she said in an interview with the ABC. “But it also breaks my heart to know that there’s so many people out there that are struggling too. So I was fuelled by that.”
Her creative interests extend to photography, too. Her long-term partner, and fellow sporting legend Nathan Cleary, was the first subject of her Instagram photography blog, while her social media has offered glimpses into the couple’s travels, family life and time away from their sporting careers.
She has also stepped into the fashion world, including making her runway debut at Paris Fashion Week in 2025.
“This will be my first time walking a runway, and while it’s a little outside of my comfort zone,” said Mary ahead of Fashion Week. “The opportunity to walk alongside extraordinary women in a celebration of women’s empowerment, inclusion, and sisterhood is truly inspiring.”
“Ever since I was young, I’ve loved experimenting with different looks – both with clothing and makeup. For me, beauty has always been about expressing who I am, both on and off the field. Walking in Le
Défilé is a chance to show that strength, confidence, and authenticity are beautiful in every form. I want every young woman watching, especially in Australia, to know that you don’t have to fit a mould to be
worthy and hope to inspire others to celebrate their individuality and wear their confidence with pride,” she continued in a statement.
The family behind the footballer
Mary was born in Cairns, Queensland, on February 14, 2003, and is the middle child of five. She comes from a sporting family and has Irish and Papua New Guinean heritage. Her father, Kevin, is from Dublin, while her mother, Nido, is from Port Moresby, where her parents met.
Mary has spoken about wanting to connect more deeply with her mother’s Papua New Guinean heritage. In an interview with The Guardian, she said “It’s a place, and a culture, I’d really love to connect with. Setting up a football academy or a school in Papua New Guinea one day would be exciting.”
She began playing football at a young age and played for clubs including Illawarra Stingrays and Bankstown City before joining Adelaide United with her older sister Ciara. She moved to Montpellier in France in 2020 and joined Manchester City in 2022.
Her family remains an important part of her life. During the 2025 Christmas period, Nathan joined Fowler and her family for celebrations in Far North Queensland.
How Nathan Cleary fits into Mary Fowler’s life
Mary Fowler and Nathan Cleary confirmed their relationship in 2023, and their relationship has become a regular feature of Australian sporting headlines. The couple have shared glimpses of their relationship on social media, while generally keeping their private lives relatively low-key.
Both have demanding sporting careers, with Mary based in England for Manchester City and Nathan playing in the NRL for the Penrith Panthers. He also represents New South Wales and Australia.
That means their time together is often limited, making the moments they do share particularly significant. Nathan has also appeared in Mary’s photography, including becoming the first subject of her Instagram photography blog.
In a recent interview with Today, Mary spoke about travelling to Melbourne to support Nathan at the State of Origin, saying she felt “so blessed” to be able to support him.
“I don’t get to see him very often. I feel so blessed when I do get to go and support him,” she said.
Mary Fowler is playing by her own rules
I’ve spent time looking at Mary Fowler’s career, and I’ve become fascinated by the fact that, despite having every reason to make football her entire identity, she seems to be deliberately building a life that is much bigger than it.
Elite sport has a habit of swallowing people whole, leaving little room for who exists beneath the jersey. Mary Fowler seems entirely aware of that trap and determined not to fall into it. Whether she’s writing memoirs, stepping onto international runways, or capturing quiet moments away from the cameras, she is building an identity that belongs solely to her.
Football might be what introduced her to the world, but it’s clear Mary Fowler is the one writing her own story.
