After a week of arrests and resignations at the highest level of the game, FIFA has some actual football to focus on.
The FIFA Women’s World Cup kicked off in Canada over the weekend, not a moment too soon for football’s embattled ‘governing’ – if you’ll pardon the looseness of the language – body.
But there are some good stories to tell about this tournament.
With an expanded field of 24 teams and an estimated global viewership of one billion people thanks to unprecedented TV coverage, the women’s World Cup has never had a bigger stage.
FIFA’s puppet master Sepp Blatter was quick to take credit.
“Women’s football is definitely my baby,” he said a month ago, before he had bigger things to worry about. “I consider myself a little bit as a godfather of the organisation of women’s football in FIFA.”
This is the man who once suggested women wear tighter shorts as a marketing strategy. Who said, “football is very macho” to explain the lack of women on the FIFA executive. And who, when FIFA finally appointed some female executives, told them to, “Say something, ladies. You are always speaking at home, now you can speak here.”
As far as godfathers go, I’d rather have Don Corleone.
Sepp at least had the grace to acknowledge that, “Women’s football is still limping a little bit behind.”
That might have something to do with the decision to hold the tournament on artificial turf, something the blokes have never had to endure.
Artificial turf is known for its extreme exfoliative qualities, while players are 40 per cent more likely to suffer knee injuries playing on the fake surface. It also generates heat, to the point where players had to endure Qatar-like temperatures of 49 degrees Celsius in the opening game between Canada and China.
The issue is compounded when you discover a lawn company offered to install natural grass at all World Cup venues for free and FIFA knocked them back.
Another area where women’s football is ‘limping a little bit behind’ is pay.
Football’s highest paid player, Cristiano Ronaldo, raked in $US80 million last year, placing him at No. 2 on Forbes’ list of highest paid athletes, second only to Floyd Mayweather.
The highest paid women’s football player, Marta Vieira da Silva, who has been described as the male version of Pele, makes $400,000 a year. Most women don’t make five digits.
Ronaldo takes home 200 times what Marta receives. In fact, he makes more than every player in the women’s World Cup combined. If there’s a bigger gender pay disparity anywhere, I’ve yet to find it.
There is still much to do in women’s football, but the next month could prove a giant step forward.
So tune in when you can. And go the Matildas!
144
Roar Guru
i loved watching the WWC so far, its actually a new experience you can never watch womens football. Unless you watch W-League on SBS. GO MATILDAS
nordster
Guest
Oh wow deletion-ville ....the PC hordes hit the roaw.... Emasculating us till we all go 'Caitlyn'??? Hmmmm? :) Delete, delete, delete ....
nordster
Guest
Ah no Bruce won gold kitten...and mad props to him.... I wish Her best of luck for the women's events of the Masters Games. There, better?
IntolerantOfBigots
Guest
Way to be a transphobic jerk! Caitlyn won Olympic gold - what have you achieved.... Oh right, nothing!
IntolerantOfBigots
Guest
Yeah they once said that whole 'some races are better than others at certain things' about a guy named Tiger Woods....never mind they were wrong. Sounds to me like someone doesn't get out much or actually watch women's sport so wouldn't know how good it was.
James
Guest
you say that you would prefer corleonne in such a way that the implication is that he is bad but not as bad as blatter but how is having don corleone as your godfather a bad thing? if he is properly your godfather you can be a terrible singer and actor who destroys young innocent girls and you still get to continue to be a big time actor and singer and if we are using godather as his title as the leader of the family then he makes you the biggest baddest most respected family in town. im also pretty sure ronaldo makes at least 200 times more money for teams and sponsers than da silva does. men and women players are not equal in skill or in popularity, market forces dictate who gets paid what. we should be doing more for the womans game absolutely but to address it by looking at how much the best guys and girls get paid is a terrible comparison. womens sports is for the most part just not as good to watch as mens sports because men are just better at pretty much every part of the sport, thats just how we are made, in the same way that black guys are quicker than white guys. no one wants to watch a 100 m made up of white guys because it would be kinda crap in comparison. we do need to do more for womans sports absolutely but you cannot directly compare men and womens sports because they are not equivalents.
Jorge Knijnik
Roar Rookie
Paul, I think his lapse says it all! Go Marta!
Paul
Guest
Proofreaders' note: "The highest paid women’s football player, Marta Vieira da Silva, who has been described as the male (?) version of Pele, makes $400,000 a year." You might want to revise that.
AZ_RBB
Guest
Serious stuff starts today. Has been a very unpredictable tournament so far. But I think we'll see Ghana, Serbia, Colombia and Ukraine go through today.
Darwin Stubbie
Guest
Actually FIFA have had football to focus on for the past couple of weeks ... the men's U20s is on across the ditch
CG2430
Guest
Oh for goodness sake! Cristiano Ronaldo gets paid more than whoever you mentioned (I've already forgotten) because he is a far better player, playing for one of the biggest clubs in the world - there is no comparison except in your PC vanilla world.
peeeko
Guest
Don't you think if there was more interest a businessman would form a break away league, pay players what they are worth and make money as has happened in many sports? maybe it will happen
kevin dustby
Guest
you should know better than to use estimated viewing numbers - 1 billion, that's preposterous. They are paid market value according to what they are worth to viewers and sponsors.