Certainly the playing standard of the W-League is world class, more than equal to the men's national competition, the A-League. Four current Matildas graced the field for Melbourne City and Adelaide United, along with a host of world-class imports from Europe and the US.

The Matildas are one of six top-seeded teams for next year's World Cup in France, providing them with a favourable draw and a real chance of winning the tournament. Almost the entire squad plays in the W-League. Players of similar calibre appear in the A-League only in the very twilight of their career.

And yet, the game-day experience at the W-League is a world apart from an A-League match.

These world-class women were asked to play on a poorly lit pitch at a suburban stadium far from public transport. Fans sat on concrete benches with their view partially obstructed by floodlight towers.

There were no half-time activities for fans. Junior players did play small-field games, but these were staged on the opposite side of the field to the single grandstand, with the portable goals for the kids repeatedly blowing away in the wind.

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Not only was there no merchandise - Melbourne City does not even make women's replica jerseys - tickets could only be purchased with cash.

Nor did The Age website feature any write-up of the game, focusing instead exclusively on Melbourne Victory's A-League match across town at Marvel Stadium.

How can we expect young women and girls to believe sports is making progress towards gender equality when we see inequality that extends down to every level, from the professional game to the grassroots?

As the sole women-only soccer club in Melbourne's west, we at the Maribyrnong Swifts Football Club are often confronted with this question. Recently, we were invited to speak on gender pay disparity in soccer as part of the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based
Violence Campaign. What we presented was sobering.

While star Matilda Sam Kerr is now a marquee player whose wages at Perth Glory are supported by the Football Federation Australia's marquee fund, during the 2017-18 W-League season, the salary bill for the entire nine-team competition was $2.22 million. Clubs only spent around 80 per cent of the salary cap available to them.

Melbourne City reportedly paid Socceroos star Tim Cahill $3.5 million to play the 2016-17 season. One professional male player was paid more than all 181 professional female players.

At the grassroots level too, our girls face stark inequality in the form of substandard training and playing facilities.

The Maribyrnong Swifts Football Club was founded by a group of players weary of being second-class citizens at male-dominated clubs.

But striking out alone has not guaranteed a fairer deal.

Although we are often held out as an example of inclusivity, the reality is our players contend with woefully inadequate facilities.

Our five junior teams and three senior teams all train together on just half a field, because the floodlights at our home ground do not illuminate the whole pitch.

Our clubhouse is decrepit with kitchen doors hanging off hinges. Insufficient storage facilities force us to use the common area to store equipment.

As a club, the Maribyrnong Swifts fully support awareness raising campaigns like the 16 Days of Activism. We support initiatives such as Our Watch's Sports Engagement Program that help sporting organisations embed gender equality and respectful relationships into their networks and communities.

Building awareness and gathering commitments to change is important. But in reality, the problem is already in plain sight.

If the Matildas hold aloft the World Cup in Lyon next July, they will do so having faced down inequality at every step.

The best way to show a young girl waving a flag or stepping onto a soccer field what gender equality looks like would be simply to provide equal facilities and equal opportunities now.

So that our next crop of world-beating female players reach the pinnacle of the game on a truly level playing field.

Diane Zhang is vice-president of the Maribyrnong Swifts Football Club, the sole female-only soccer club in Melbourne's west.