Australian Women’s Soccer Team’s US Tour Cancelled

Australia’s female’s national soccer team canceled its entire trip to the US as the pay row with the FFA escalated further. The Matildas on Tuesday 8th September 2015 confirmed their withdrawal from a training camp in Sydney ahead of the tour. They also upped the ante in abandoning their World Champions’ tour. The team had earlier thrilled Australian fans by finally qualifying for the quarter-finals of the much-waited Women’s World Cup at the beginning of the year. The Australian class of 2014/2015 became the first one to reach the level of the last eight in the world cup. This incidence happened only two months after the Matildas were remunerated after the expiry of their contracts and stalled negotiations. The Professional Footballers Australia boss, Adam Vivian announced in a statement that the players made the decision to abandon the tour during a meeting on Wednesday 9th September 2015.

Vivian admitted that the Matildas were fundamentally betting on football since they had a full-time assignment with part-time payment. She made it clear that the promising players were currently under no contracted and hence were under no obligation to partake in any Matildas games. The PFA boss added that the players felt that they had been left with no other option, but to take that course of action. She empathetically said that the patriotic players were hopeful that the FFA’s position would change following Tuesday’s negotiations collapse. With lucrative TV rights being offered and betting on soccer, Vivian said that the football talents were not requesting for too much. The payment adjustment was just a correction sort totaling to $150,000 concerning the addition of what had been offered. She reckoned that the $600 million pay hike was not a huge one considering it was catering for the following four years for professional football.

Vivian noted that at $21,000 annual payment for each Matilda player, that was an outright underpayment. She revealed that the players even lacked yearly contracts. She said that they had six-month contracts equating to approximately $10,500. She made it clear that their existing payment package was based on a part-time contract. Therefore, they would work for only 120 days a year and clearly as seen in the wake of the World Cup, the players had a full-time course. However, the remuneration was not matched, and they ended up being on duty for 154 days in six months. Hence, they fell into the underpaid class instantly. The move was arrived at after the Socceroos’ decision to snub a signing meeting before their World Cup qualifier match against their Bangladesh counterparts. That was following the end of the collective bargaining agreement of the male national team.

The PFA is also demanding a pay rise for the A-League players. David Gallop, FFA’s chief executive in a written statement, said that the existing payment package was fair. He reiterated that the Matildas’ offer would, in essence, increase their earnings by 100 percent in the following four years. He claimed that the new demands were simply unaffordable and that the PFA knew that so well. However, he said that the FFA was willing to reach a sensible agreement to protect the interests of the popular game. Proceeds of football betting can reverse the plight of players in the country.