Reviews and recommendations are unbiased and products are independently selected. Postmedia may earn an affiliate commission from purchases made through links on this page.
The day before four members of the Canadian women’s national soccer team are scheduled to testify in front of a federal government committee, Canada Soccer celebrated International Women’s Day.
It’s easy to see the irony, as the national soccer governing body acknowledges the accomplishments of women in the sport Wednesday, while embroiled in a very public pay dispute with the women’s national team.
On Thursday, national team members Sophie Schmidt, Janine Beckie, Quinn and Christine Sinclair, are scheduled to testify before the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage in Ottawa, in regards to the labour dispute with Canada Soccer, which boiled over prior to the SheBelieves Cup in mid-February.
Canadian players participated in protest after initially deciding to boycott the event because of the labour dispute. Canada Soccer, in turn, threatened to sue the players if they did not participate, reluctantly getting them back on the field.
The four-team SheBelieves Cup was the opening tournament of the year for the Canadian women’s team, who are taking part in the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup this summer in Australia and New Zealand. Canada lost two of its three games at the tournament, falling to the host United States and former World Cup champions Japan, while defeating Brazil.
Yet, the international focus on the tournament was on the protest by the Canadian players, who wore purple t-shirts prior to their games and turned their practice jerseys inside out to hide the Canada Soccer logo.
The fallout was swift as Canada Soccer president Nick Bontis stepped down just over a week ago, at the request of the provincial and territorial soccer governing bodies, and replaced in the interim with former Olympic athletics star Charmaine Crooks.
Shortly after Crooks’ appointment, Canada Soccer announced, ‘a deal in principle’ had been reached on an interim funding agreement for 2022, which addressed concerned by players they had not been paid for that calendar year. The Canadian women’s team played 17 games in 2022.
“The interim deal is just that — an interim deal,” The Canadian Soccer Players’ Association said in a statement, released Friday. “It is an attempt to quickly address the CSA’s failure to pay anything to the Women’s National Team members in 2022.
“The women’s team was willing to accept it as an interim agreement, but it is not a final deal. It also does not solve the deeper issues around pay equity and equalization of supports and resources across the national teams that caused the players to take labour action in connection with the SheBelieves
Cup.”
The women’s team is also not fond of Crooks taking over as president. A five-time Olympian and silver medallist at the 1984 Los Angeles Games as a member of Canada’s 4×400 metre relay team, Crooks has been on the Canada Soccer board since 2013 and was elected vice president in November 2020.
“As impressive as Charmaine Crooks is as an athlete and a Canadian, from the Women’s National Team’s perspective she represents the “old guard” on the Board,” the CSPA statement said. “She was on the Board when it approved the Canada Soccer Business deal in 2018, and she has always appeared to the players to be closely allied with Nick Bontis.
“Unfortunately, in the decade she has spent on the Board, the players have seen nothing to suggest that she was working to promote the Women’s National Team’s interests.”
That’s not exactly a ringing endorsement for Crooks, who is eligible to run for proper election at the Canada Soccer annual general meeting in May.
At crux of the disagreement by the women’s team and that of the men’s labour dispute this past summer — where they boycotted an exhibition game against Panama in Vancouver — is the marketing and broadcast agreement Canada Soccer signed with Canada Soccer Business, a privately-owned company made up of Canadian Premier League owners. Both national teams have asked to see the agreement, which is something the Heritage Committee is interested as well.
“They have provided some limited financial disclosure, but it was inconsistent with previous disclosures made by Canada Soccer and has yet to be explained,” the CSPA continued. “Canada Soccer is still working to set up a meeting with someone who will be able to answer the players’ questions, which we understand will not occur until the second half of March.”
Despite stepping down, Bontis and Canada Soccer general secretary Earl Cochrane are expected to testify in front of the Heritage Committee later this month.
All this, of course, will be under the watchful eye of FIFA, who are not fond of governments interfering with national soccer associations.
FIFA has sanctioned countries due to government interference in the past, and the worst-case scenario in all of this is to have Canada kicked out of the Women’s World Cup.
That is unlikely to happen, but the mess needs to be cleaned up quickly.
The Women’s World Cup is fast approaching and Canada have limited time to prepare as a team for the tournament.
Canada is scheduled to play France in April in Le Mans, France, but there has yet to be a guarantee the players will show up.
“The Women’s National Team players have advised Canada Soccer that while they intend to play in the upcoming FIFA window scheduled for April,” the CSPA said. “That participation is contingent on meaningful progress being made with respect to a number of bargaining issues.”
Email: dvandiest@postmedia.com
On Twitter: @DerekVanDiest
Post a Comment