New Deal for the Matildas: a Game Changer?
What would you say to a 100% pay increase?
That’s the new deal that Football Australia (the Australian football association) and Professional Footballers Australia (the player’s association) have recently announced, seeing the women’s national team receive pay and reward at a level more or less in line with the men’s team. This shouldn’t be a controversial move, but (and I wish I was surprised) it’s got a lot of people all riled up.
Let’s look at the details of the new arrangements first.
The money is the headline — players in the senior Australian women’s squad (aka the Matildas) will now earn between AUD$120,000 — $200,000 per year, plus a scaled payment for placement and wins in international competitions.
This brings them into line with the men’s team — the Socceroos — and is paid on top of a player’s club contract remuneration and any brand or sponsorship deals they may have.The pay deal applies to the whole squad, and not just those in a starting lineup.
There are other elements in the agreement though, and I believe some of these are just as important. The team will be guaranteed business class flights when they travel — which is far, and often, given the geographic considerations. This comes after a variety of stories in recent years where men’s teams have been flown business class to training camps and games, while women’s teams have been booked into economy class.
As anyone who has flown long-haul in economy can tell you, the seats and the set-up are not especially conducive to comfort and rest, which are essential in preparation for and recovery from important games.
The ecological impact of such flights is a different matter and for another day’s story! But when the flight is taking off anyway, and the only differentiator is which class the team is booked on to travel, it’s an important consideration.
The agreement also provides an improved pregnancy policy regarding pay and support, and a significantly increased provision for childcare during training camps and international match travel.
Historically neither men’s nor women’s teams for many countries have performed well in the family-friendly support arena, although the pregnancy support piece is of course specific to cis women.
Adequate financial provision and healthcare means players are much more able to adequately recover from pregnancy and birth and to return to top-tier football. They will also be less likely to have to postpone or forgo parental planning altogether.
To be clear, these family-friendly policies should apply to players of all genders — this is not and should not be selective. It is hard to deny, however, that the adverse impact of poor or absent support for parental leave is higher on women, and so it’s unsurprising that it’s taken a combined and sustained effort from a variety of female activists to get this in place.
Another key plank of the agreement is the prioritisation of human rights policies, and the impact the sport has in Australia on a national and local level. While FIFA has its own human rights guidelines, the implementation is unique to each nation, so by ensuring that this is a contractual obligation the Matildas will be able to focus on the issues most relevant to Australia.
Respect and responsibilities for indigenous Australian people may well be key in this, while other policies which could feature may include labour laws, menstrual rights, freedom of expression, and further equal opportunity work.
There are additional elements in the agreement which cover support for youth and grass-roots football programmes, as well as for past players. There is also provision for a new cross-functional committee which will focus on improving communication, brand awareness, and commercial opportunities.
The agreement runs for the next four years, which means there are several significant international competitions covered, including the Olympics, the Asian Women’s Cup, and the next World Cups.
Photo by Jeffrey F Lin on Unsplash
And so what exists in any or all of the above that could get anyone all hot and bothered?
Unfortunately, this is a phenomenon seen across all sports, and in other fields too. Fundamentally, the arguments against improving pay and conditions for women often boil down to two clear strands: “They’re just not as good as the men” and “They don’t bring in as much money as the men”.
The first of these arguments is probably the more spurious. What does ‘good’ look like in this context? Number of goals scored?Christine Sinclair, Abby Wambach, and Hinata Miyazawa would like a word. Power of a strike? C’mere Chloe Kelly, this man has something to say to you. Creative and impressive goalscoring? I’ll have Katie McCabe on my screen any day, thanks.
Or is ‘good’ to do with ‘entertaining’? Well, I’ll tell you, I’ve been watching men’s football on TV and in person my whole life, and I’ve never enjoyed those games as much as I enjoyed this year’s Women’s World Cup or the Sunday league games played by my local team. The games are different — not less skillful, not better, just different.
I couldn’t count the number of times I’ve seen a player best her opponent using ball control and clever footwork, where a male player would have been more likely to have used physical size and strength.
And as for petulant pushing, shoving, and wild tackles — I’m not saying it never happens in the women’s game, but all I’ll say is I ain’t ever seen one go the way Spurs v Chelsea did on Monday. Maybe that’s what you want from your football games, in which case crack on: but you can’t claim that makes it ‘better’ than women’s football.
If your argument is that men’s football brings in more money than women’s, then currently you’re entirely correct. Two-hundred times more money in the English league, if this article is to be believed. But if ever there was a market just ready and waiting to be explored, it’s women’s football. The attendance at a Barcelona game in 2022 was over 90,000. Attendance at the Euro 2022 final of England v Germany was 87,000, and tickets were almost impossible to get hold of.
At regular league games, too, the numbers are only going up. In Australia, there are now thousands regularly attending A-League games. English WSL crowds are counted in the tens of thousands. If capitalism is your driver, then this is opportunity, not oppression.
Investment is the key, here. Money in equals players who are not trying to hold down another job, who have access to the most experienced coaches, the best gym equipment and medical support, and who can dedicate hours to developing and improving their game.
Money in means grassroots and community development, which identifies and progresses the future stars. And this takes time: from youth and academy initiatives through to junior and reserve teams, the pipeline from playground knockabout to world-class player is not an overnight development. And investment is what, until recently, women’s football has not had.
Where the Matildas deal excels is in looking at the whole person, both for players and for the wider community. This bucks the trend of high-profile men’s team owners who can seem almost entirely focused on milking the fans of whatever money they can extract, and treating the players as cash-cow figureheads rather than individuals who have a whole life outside of the sport.
If you want a case study of what investment and focus can do for a club, I’d direct you to Angel City FC, a three-year-old club based out of Los Angeles in the US. Their investors include a roster of quite frankly brilliant women, including Abby Wambach (oop, there she is again), Serena Williams, Natalie Portman, America Ferrera, Eni Aluko, Glennon Doyle, Billie Jean King, and dozens more. That money, combined with a genius head coach, has taken the team from solidly bottom of the NWSL to competing in this year’s playoffs. The club is also enormously involved in the local community: hosting street football, celebratory events, outreach initiatives, and charity drives.
So, maybe the new deal for the Matildas isn’t a game-changer after all. Perhaps it’s just the latest in a long line of much-needed change in women’s football. I’m excited to see what comes next.
© Fiona McDerment, 2023. All rights reserved.
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