Such a long way to go

The Matildas have no games to play pre-Rio and the USWNT are taking US Soccer to task over wage discrimination. So much more to do

Two interesting pieces today that highlight the attitude of governing bodies to women’s football. 

The first is this one by Ray Gatt which suggests that the Matildas may not be getting the level of pre-Olympic preparation they would like.

The report states that the Matildas’ coach, Alen Stajcic, wanted to have a training camp and a friendly match this week “to keep them ticking over” but this didn’t proceed. The report suggests this was for financial reasons for the almost-perenially cash-strapped FFA who have had to foot the bill for Newcastle Jets all season. FFA deny this is the case. The head of performance, Luke Casserly, rejects the assertion that the decision was “purely financial”. The tone and content of Casserly’s statement seem to suggest that he is the one calling the shots in respect of what happens with the Matildas rather than Stajcic. Let’s just hope it’s clumsy wording and not what’s actually happening. 

The Matildas are currently fifth in the world rankings. As Gatty’s article makes clear, only a few weeks ago people were falling over themselves to be part of the Matildas bandwagon when they qualified for the Olympic Games, their first since 2004. 

FFA should be making every effort, and meeting all reasonable requests of the coach, to put the Matildas in a medal-winning position. They did so in preparing the Socceroos for the Asian Cup – and look how well that turned-out. The same should apply for the Matildas. 

The second piece involves the mighty US women’s national team. Five of their top players have taken action against the US Soccer Federation on the basis of wage discrimination. 

By way of comparison, both national teams are required to play 20 international friendlies per year. The women receive a minimum of $72,000 and a maximum of $99,000. The men receive a minimum of $100,000 and a maximum of $263,320. The gap is evident in terms of basic pay, bonuses and appearance fees as presented here. 

The argument most often used to justify the gender pay gap in football is the disparity in revenue between the men’s and women’s games. It is not an unreasonable argument.

However, if accepted, then US Soccer has a serious case to answer before the US Equal Opportunity Commission. The discrimination case is prompted by US Soccer’s 2015 financial report which showed that the USWNT brought in $20 million more revenue than the USMNT. Their response? Have a read of it for yourself (below).

The attitude of both governing bodies is disappointing but not unexpected. It is similar to the one I wrote about here in respect of the so-called reforms ‘for’ women in football. So much could have been done. So much more should be done. 

And there’s such a long way to go.

Postscript

By the way, for the Matildas, 14 players are classified as ‘Tier 1’ and receive a base salary of $40,000; another six are ‘Tier 2’ and receive $33,000.