It seems that the tide actually might be turning in Australia a bit, with people finally realising that the female athletes who dedicate just as much as of their lives to playing sport as their male counterparts actually deserve to not be out-of-pocket for doing so. The Football Federation Australia (FFA) and Professional Footballers Australia have announced a huge new collective bargaining agreement with the W-League.
Each W-League’s club payments will lift from $50 000 to $180 000 and minimum W-League spend will rise to $1.62 million. The players have previously been paid about $7 000 per season, which reportedly left most players over $2 000 out-of-pocket each season after covering their own basics like travel and health insurance. Ridiculous. These are people that train just as hard, and often as anyone else, and risk injury and not having another career in order to play the sport they love.
Under the new deal, it is expected that the average pay packet of W-League players will double to $15 500 for the upcoming season. All players will be on a minimum $10 000 retainer, and there will be no cap for how much any individual player can be paid as a retainer. What this means is that it will finally give players some extremely deserved semblance of financial security.
As a long-term women’s football fan, it was always quite disconcerting to stumble upon your favourite player serving you coffee in a local cafe, because they couldn’t afford to focus on soccer full-time. If you are someone that claims that the quality of women’s soccer isn’t as good as the men’s, this deal should please you, as you would obviously be taking into consideration the fact that women who are good at soccer aren’t sent off to the Australian Institute of Sport at fourteen and are able to dedicate themselves 100% to getting better at soccer for the next ten years, with support at every turn.
Even though they have not had anywhere near equal footing, women’s soccer has been absolutely flourishing in this country regardless, with the exciting and dynamic Matildas team (including arguably the best player in the world Sam Kerr) smashing the best teams in the world recently to take out the recent Tournament of Nations. People are starting to realise how good this team is, and that they should start to get out to support them, with the Matildas set to play in front of 40k fans in a sold-out match against Brazil in Sydney this weekend.
FFA CEO David Gallop acknowledge that even though the difference was still huge between what women and men are paid, this new deal is an important first step.
This is the start of a new era for professional female footballers in Australia. W-League players deserve this pay rise. They have been trail blazers for women’s sport in Australia and are about to enter their 10th season. We all share a determination to achieve gender equality in our sport and make it the most attractive option for female Australian athletes.
So get out next season and see some W-League games, and witness the most exciting football Australia has to offer.
