Conflict between the FFA and the Professional Footballers Association (PFA) is heating up. Earlier this afternoon the Matildas announced that players would withdraw from their Sydney-based camp ahead of an upcoming USA tour.
This was later confirmed by PFA chief executive Adam Vivian, after failing to confirm a new Collective Bargaining Agreement with the FFA.
“This decision has not been taken lightly, however the players feel they have been left with little option as the current proposal is simply unacceptable,” said Vivian.
“FFA has failed to recognise the significant sacrifices the Matildas players are forced to make in playing for their country.
“The players have sought to have their contribution to the game respected. The current proposal from FFA highlights their unwillingness to meaningfully address the core issues.”
Matildas goalkeeper Lydia Williams said the players are all in agreeance with the actions taken.
“This was an extremely difficult decision to make,” said Williams.
“However it’s simply unfair to continue to expect us to make enormous sacrifices to play for Australia. For the past two months the players have been unpaid and have made every attempt to reach an agreement that gives the women’s game a platform for growth.
“This is about the future of Australian football. We want to establish football as the sport of choice for Australian women, and we want to be one of the best nations in the world.
“FFA’s stance indicates that they do not share these ambitions, nor do they understand and respect what we have given to the game. We are simply asking FFA do their bit so we can grow the game together.”
The FFA responded to the Matildas’ decision by announcing their own press release stating that they “condemned Professional Footballers Association (PFA) for taking action without notice, disrupting the Matildas preparations for the matches against the world champions USA this month.”
According to the FFA the PFA took action “just hours before the latest round of talks for a new whole of game Collective Bargaining Agreement”, in which the Matildas would receive “significant increases in spending on air travel, accommodation and benefits. Including a 10 per cent immediate pay increase with annual increases rising to 15 per cent across the term of the CBA.”
“Today FFA entered the talks in good faith with the intention of finalising the CBA, based on assurances from the PFA’s leadership that the parties were not far apart,” FFA CEO David Gallop said in a statement.
“Instead, we were presented with a fresh set of demands that amount to millions of dollars of unfunded commitments.
“It is sad that the Matildas have been dragged into a dispute that’s primarily about the A-League. The offer to the Matildas would basically double their pay over the next four years.”
Currently the Matildas are being paid $500 in match fees (pre Women’s World Cup), in contrast to Socceroos players, who are paid $6500.
In the 2015 Women’s World Cup hosted in Canada, the Matildas survived the Group of Death where they defeated Brazil 1-0. They made Australian women’s football history by reaching the quarter-finals of the tournament.
If the women had made it to the finals they would have been paid $5600 in match fees, while their male counterparts would earn $69,000 for doing the same thing.
Beny Iniesta
Guest
*agreeance. The word is just agreement you know Lydia.
fadida
Guest
I agree actually
Vic
Guest
As others have said on other threads....................................why don't the head honchos of the FFA do their job and negotiate a half decent tv rights deal from those appalling thieves who run the tv networks in this country? If they did their job and actually stood up for the game, instead of falling over themselves to give away it's valuable assets to our lifelong enemies for a paltry pittance then they wouldn't have to rob the players and their families of their entitlements! BTW, WHO gave FL the right to giveaway Football's right to sue Ch 7 for damages resulting from the C7 fiasco or News Ltd and the AFL for their vile and viscious campaign against the WC bid which did far more to ruin our chances of winning than any other issue!
Bob
Guest
Agreed. Both sides shut up and sort it out professionally. It's not like the majority of Australia cares any way
Bob
Guest
I'm glad all 10 A League clubs have endorsed the FFAs stance, especially the one that doesn't pay players on time and is 12 months behind on their Super payments. That should help in negotiations lol
Bob
Guest
Well it's been going on for 8 months, and the end of the last CBA was hardly a "surprise" so they had a lot longer to prepare for negotiations, and they keep going public with their opinions which rather than bringing the players closer to the FFAs stance is pushing them further away. If you're on Twitter you will have seen the flood of tweets from players over this, we now have a very militant and motivated player group who've adopted the "us v them" classic approach. The FFA big-wigs are paid big-bucks to sort stuff like this out but they're sorting nothing out lately (maybe the Jets, but have they sold them or not?) .... remember when we had the FIFA World Cup bid and we dropped the ball while "we" were distracted, well I think the same has happened with the Asian Cup and the FFA have been self-consumed with what a jolly good job they did they forgot to keep running the game - why else have we got this pay issue, Phoenix's license issue, Brisbane Roars issue (which was first reported to the FFA 15 months ago), the succession issues? Others have pointed it out in greater detail than me but this is not an isolated issue, football has problems wherever you look at the moment. Can you believe the season kicks off three weeks tomorrow (well maybe kicks off apparently) - what is going on?????
Midfielder
Guest
Bob Why ?????
Brendo
Guest
This is what is annoying me about this whole dispute. Both sides are playing word games with their public announcements The PFA is making sure they always use "salary cap" as a measure full well knowing that the FFA have already introduced significant increases in the TPP payments via the new extra cap rules they introduced for this season. The FFA counter with the old 30% any lift in future TV deals to A-league Players, knowing full well that the heart of the issue for the PFA is that they want 30% of all revenue that the FFA and the Clubs generate to be returned to players (Socceroos, A-league & Matildas). Fact is 30% of future A-league media rights to A-league Players would be taking total % of players TPP backwards not forwards. There is a lot of misdirection here on both sides. For instance I not sure people realise that if you included all A-league player payments against "A-league Revenue" the % paid in TPP is a higher than 30%. Effectively at the moment the Socceroos fund the A-League/Matildas players. Its laughable that the PFA on one hand can claim 30% of revenue as a fair wage then turn around and support the Matildas asking for more money. When they are generating nothing (FFA Fund Matildas game at a loss)
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
"So the clubs don’t want the employees to get a pay rise. Wow, that’s hardly a news story. Time for independent arbitration." Huh?? Did you bother to read the article? The clubs & FFA have offered a wage increase & potentially massive pay rise. "Today the clubs reaffirmed their unanimous support for Football Federation Australia’s position over the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), which already offers increases and a guaranteed 30% share of any uplift in future TV revenues to Hyundai A-League players." How many other workers/employees ever get "guaranteed 30% share" of future major revenue deals? That sort of revenue sharing is restricted to the C-level in any organisation and player are definitely not part of the C-Level of the FFA. As far as I know AFL & NRL players who generate 6x the TV revenue compared to HAL players don't receive such a big slice of the TV deal.
Stevo
Roar Rookie
So the clubs don't want the employees to get a pay rise. Wow, that's hardly a news story. Time for independent arbitration.
Waz
Guest
In the context of the negotiations I don't see it helping
Waz
Guest
It certainly would :)
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
By giving the players (& some withing the AUS football community) a well-needed reality check about "money out" cannot be greater than "money in".
Kaks
Roar Guru
Haha all good Waz, and the ACL win did help tremendously. In all honesty I would like to see a non A-league team win the FFA Cup. Wouldnt that be a cool story!
Waz
Guest
lol. Sorry for your heartbreak. Hopefully the ACL helped a little? And if it's any consolation I'm hoping you guys will win the FFA Cup this year :)
Kaks
Roar Guru
As a Wanderers fan who had to go through a lot of heartache in 2014, how could i forget them? :(
Waz
Guest
.... and how will this help?
Waz
Guest
I'm not sure who went public first but both sides have, it's wrong and it's not helping (unless this is a ploy to drive up "content" seeing as how soccer only gets coverage with bad news in some rags?) And hey, I'm just sat here waiting for news on Brisbane Roar - remember them?
Waz
Guest
This is not going to help - time both sides shut the ***** up and did all their talking behind closed doors.
Kaks
Roar Guru
"never conduct sensitive negotiations in public" Seems like one side of the spectrum wanted it to go public so that they could use the it to their advantage.