The discontent about inequalities in women’s football get louder each day.
If the Matildas don’t play a game until next March, that will mark one year since their Olympic qualifier against Vietnam.
The top-tier Matildas get at least $83,000 guaranteed per annum, not including bonuses and prize money. They have been paid their base salaries in full from March 2020 to July 2020 for their 2019-20 contracts, even though they haven’t played a game since March 11 2020.
The reality is, one Matilda’s contract can cover five W-League minimum wage ($16,344) contracts.
With 11 Tier 1 players part of the 20 contracted Matildas, that is 55 minimum wages that FFA could help W-League clubs fund.
With no international games scheduled, there is every chance the national team may not play until well into 2021. If their 2020-21 contracts, which commenced this month, stay the same as last season and they get paid in full, that will mean FFA will have paid more than $83,000 each to the top 11 players for not kicking a ball. This is without factoring in the nine or ten Tier 2 ($56,000) and Tier 3 ($40,000) players.
This is a total wage bill of over $1 million.
While no one can blame the players for accepting the money, FFA is sacrificing the greater good of women’s football just to keep the minority happy. The ruling body have not yet committed to when the 2020-21 W-League season will commence.
The biggest issue is that most, if not all, of these contracted internationals are getting paid by their clubs in either Europe or America and won’t feature in the W-League.
This means they will earn decent wages on top of their Australian contracts without actually kicking a ball in this country.
While in normal circumstances this is a great thing, in the current fiscal climate – FFA is losing revenue of $43.5 million this year – it isn’t going down well especially among some A-League club owners who rely heavily on FFA distributions to cover costs.
FFA gives at least $200,000 each year to A-League clubs to fund their W-League program, with over $3.5 million provided each year overall.
Further to this, much of FFA’s $32 million TV deal, struck in July this year, relies on the A-League and W-League to provide content, with the international calendar rather bare until the 2021 Olympics.
The Tokyo games are now scheduled to take place from 23 July to 8 August. The current TV deal expires around July meaning the likelihood of the Matildas and Olyroos generating revenue for FFA is low.
This problem isn’t an issue for the Socceroos, since they don’t get paid unless they play or make appearances at camps.
FFA have some important decisions to make in the coming months, addressing the inequalities within women’s football is one of them.
Mooty
Roar Rookie
FFA still needs to keep paying their contracted players, although at a negotiated reduced rate. Just because some have been able to secure contracts at overseas clubs isn’t any reason to cut them off, it can only improve their football. Imagine if the FFA cut off Sam Kerr’s contract, there would all hell to pay. Just reduce the contracts and spread the savings further around the W League and juniors.
Janakan Seemampillai
Guest
Logical answer. I like it
Mark
Guest
The current pay arrangement for the Matildas is out of step with reality. It assumes that if the players would otherwise be semi-pro or amateur. The solution is simple. Matildas only get the full pay if they play in the W-League. If they play pro overseas, and earn more than the Matildas salary, then they get match payments when they play for the Matildas and nothing else from the FFA. In the unlikely event they play pro overseas but don’t get paid at the Matildas salary, the FFA tops it up to that salary.
Janakan Seemampillai
Guest
The point of the article is that the Matildas are getting paid while not playing...which is putting the W-League at risk since the money being used to pay the Matildas could be better used paying for the W-League which will provide content for Foxtel as part of the $32M deal that was signed in July. Also the Matildas are getting income from their European clubs, W-League players obviously dont get this. It makes zero sense to use limited finances to pay players who are not doing anything while letting the W-League (which will provide content for the TV deal and for sponsors) to suffer... Its a great shame this situation as the Matildas definitely deserve fair remuneration for their brand. But in this unique time the budget could be better spent. There are two sides to every argument of course.
Rabbitz
Roar Guru
Is it actually inequality though? At the end of the day, professional sports are entertainment. Entertainment survives on the number of tickets sold or the number of eyeballs on screens. This is no different to music, plays, ballet, TV or Disney-on-Ice. If you are unable to stage your show or no one can come to see your show then there is no income. I have been in and around the music industry for going on four decades and many of my friends and colleagues are hurting because they can’t work and no one is going to pay them to not play. Why should the sporting federation be paying players to not play? Furthermore, think of it like a couple of bands, the up and coming band who gets a run of gigs supporting a big international touring band. Not too different to W-League and the Matildas really. Do you think the support band get paid as much as the big band? Even though they are playing on the same stage on the same day on the same bill? No they don’t because they don’t put as many bums on seats as the big names, same in sport. It is a precarious living in the entertainment business at the best of times, during a downturn many literally begin to starve for their art…
Roberto Bettega
Roar Rookie
We are used to hearing about inequality in womens sport, but generally vis-a-vis the men. In this article, I think the inequality being highlighted is to compare to W-League salaries? I'm I getting right? Otherwise, I'm struggling to work out what the point of the article is.
Jimmyg
Guest
Interesting. Will the Wleague actually go ahead? Seems crazy to sacrifice it.