Matildas star Ellie Carpenter addresses horrific online trolling ahead of Olympic qualifier in Perth: ‘It’s a problem’

Defender Ellie Carpenter has spoken out about the brutal abuse she suffered at the hands of online trolls following the Matildas’ loss to England in the Women’s World Cup semi-final on home soil.

The 23-year-old was forced to disable comments on her Instagram account after an unfortunate mistake in the 71st minute of the match, which proved costly in Australia’s eventual 3-1 defeat.

Carpenter, Australia’s youngest athlete at the Rio Olympics, misjudged a longball and allowed Lauren Hemp to take and capitalize on a shot on target.

She talked about what she experienced on Thursday in the run-up to Australia’s first Olympic Games qualifying match against Iran.

“You see it (online abuse) everywhere, in different competitions and also in different sporting codes,” she said in Perth.

Carpenter says she doesn’t allow the abuse to get to her or affect her performance

‘It’s clearly a problem. And I know a lot of people are trying to create apps and platforms to stop abuse and things like that, so it’s good that people are aware of it and trying to change it.”

Carpenter says the abuse is part of the public eye and she won’t let it affect her.

“To be honest, I don’t really read or research that,” she said.

‘For me it actually has no influence at all. I do something for my team and myself.

“It (social media abuse) is everywhere these days.

“And that just shows that the bigger you are or the bigger you get, the more criticism you get.

“I had a great support system around me at that time, and really throughout the World Cup.

‘But it just is what it is. Like I said, the bigger you are, the more you get.”

The Australian star fullback says the bigger you get, the more abuse you are likely to receive

Carpenter says social media abuse is “everywhere these days.”

Carpenter had little time off after Australia’s historic World Cup season before flying to France to play for her club Lyon.

“You don’t really have much… downtime, just jumping right into a new season,” she said.

“You don’t really have time to think and stop for a moment, but I think it was incredible to see the aftermath of the World Cup and what we did in football in Australia and for women as well.

‘I had about a week off after the tournament and honestly didn’t do anything, just chill. And I think that’s our life. We can’t really stop because your season starts two weeks after the World Cup and you have big games.

“It’s just the life of the professional athlete.”