Sounder-down-Under: Why I didn’t want to watch Haiti play the USWNT

Sounder-down-Under is a look at the beautiful game from the other side of the world, written by Seattle ex-pat Drew Dickson.

So I tuned into Fox Sports 1 today to watch the US Women’s National Team taking on Haiti, but I didn’t want to.

Don’t get me wrong, I love a chance to cheer our women on, but I was hoping to see them take on The Matildas of Australia.

Up until a week ago, the plan was to watch the game with my brother and indulge him as he rewound every run by Christen Press and marvel at her ability while watching my wife’s homeland versus mine.  But when a bargaining agreement could not be reached between Football Federation Australia and the Professional Footballers of Australia union, there went my chance to see another clash between the two countries that make up my household.

The Matildas went out of the Women’s World Cup this summer in the Quarter Finals to eventual runner up Japan, and saw their bargaining agreement expire a month later in July.  Since that time, the team has not been paid for two months and made no appearances.  The team even returned home individually.

About ninety percent of the time I am against holding out for money as a professional athlete.  My dad told me that the point of a team sport was working together for a goal as a group.  Since that leaves a remaining ten percent, I am going to use that percentage now.

The issue of pay in women’s sports has historically been one that has been mired by words like “not bringing in the crowds” or “not as talented” and even “not as good as the men’s teams.”  The excitement that the 2016 World Cup in Canada generated should silence some of those critics and comments, but sadly it won’t silence them all.

The Matildas’ currently make $21,000 AUD ($14,800 USD) per year for a full time stint as members of the national team.  That translates poorly in a country where the minimum wage is over $34,158 AUD per year.

But what makes it worse is if you compare them side by side with the Men’s National Team (the Socceroos) or even the US Women’s National Team.  But let’s do it.

Now, I should say that the Socceroos do not get a guaranteed pay-check.  Their bargaining agreement is a share in the commercial agreements for the matches, hence why they are not going on strike in solidarity.  They have boycotted community events last week leading up to Word Cup qualifiers, though.

What we can compare is what each would have taken home from World Cup matches, as both played in the competition over the past year.  Had the Socceroos (currently ranked 61^st in the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Cup rankings) reach the quarter-finals like their female compatriots, they would have taken home a personal bonus of $8,500 AUD ($6,000 USD).  The Matildas (9^th in the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Cup rankings) pocketed $750 AUD (a whole $530 USD) for reaching such a lofty spot.

The Socceroos also feature on commercials in Australia in their National Jersey and are recognizable in the street.  I met the Captain of the Matildas, Lisa De Vanna, in July at the airport in Melbourne, just weeks after they had made their World Cup exit.

She was standing by herself, having gone up to the baggage claim without anyone saying a thing to her.  Granted, the flight from Los Angeles to Melbourne is fourteen hours, no one is perky, but it was hard to forgive anyone else for not noticing who she was.

Again, had she been in casual clothes I might have given the rest of the Australians a pass, but she was wearing her training top with the national emblem, had used her national team bag as her carry on with her number on it, and still had the lanyard across her body with her pass to enter the grounds as a player.

I went up and congratulated her on the team’s performance, even if they had put one past the US in the process.  She smiled at me and thanked me.  Little did I know she was about to face the tough decision of being paid or playing for her nation.

But what about the team they would have faced against?

The US Women’s National Team players make a minimum of $70,000 for playing in a tier 1 side in the US, far above the Matildas took home, even if you include the bonus of $2,850 AUD ($2,014 USD) they got for playing this past summer in Canada.  To top it off they won the World Cup, a feat which brought the side $2,000,000.  This seems like a good pay day until you find out that the German National team took home $35,000,000 for their successful run in Brazil the year before.

The Matildas are looking for a raise to put their yearly earnings at $40,000 AUD ($28,269 USD, just above the minimum wage in Australia).  The players are also seeking health care provided through the FFA, improved travel arrangements, and maternity leave.  Health care in Australia comes in two forms, Free (you get what you pay for, figuratively and literally) or Private (you pay for perks you get them) and almost never part of an agreement between employers and the employees.

Maternity Leave is provided by most employers and/or a government stipend.  Affectively you can take a year off to look after your child in Australia and cannot get fired.  But that is a whole different discussion.

The case the FFA is making is that the women play for clubs who are responsible.  And that might hold water in most cases but this past year saw a grueling six month training regime that led up to the tournament.  Most of the team had to quit their jobs or postpone study due to travel commitments to face off against international opponents and according to the goalie, Lydia Williams, many single players had to move in to their parents homes because they could not afford their rent.

“The workload is professional, but they are treated as semi-professional in terms of the remuneration they receive for the work they are doing.” PFA executive and current Matilda striker Kate Gill was quoted in saying.

FFA’s chief Executive held a press conference a week ago and rejected the PFA’s demands as “extraordinary” and could not be afforded by the FFA due to “A-league clubs lost $17,000,000 this past season.”  Instead a salary option of 10% over the next four years.  The PFA rejected this offer, with Gill calling it part time wages for full time work.

My hat is off to the Matildas.  You deserve to be recognized for the work you put in and the results you have earned for the nation.  I hope the FFA can see that too.