Women footballers turn down the FA

England’s women footballers have turned down an offer of £18,000 a year from the FA, according to the BBC. 

The chief of the players’ union, Gordon Taylor has said that the contract on offer to them is “embarrassing” and after speaking with the Professional Footballers’ Association the players have declined the contracts. The contracts offered represent an improvement on the previous contracts of £16,000 but still fall short. 

Women footballers are currently centrally contracted to the FA and then play semi-professionally for various clubs around the country. Many of the footballers who represent the country and did so in the final at the Olympics play football and work a second job.

This issue is definitely an almighty can of worms.  Some might glibly argue that £18,000 a year to play football isn’t bad.  However, some top Premier League stars get paid more than that in a day.  Others might say that there isn’t the same market for women’s football as there is for men’s and that’s why the pay is different. Obviously there isn't the same market but why were there 70,000 people at Wembley to watch the Olympic final between Team GB and Brazil? 

I think that this might just be a perfect opportunity for the FA to speculate to accumulate. The women’s football market is clearly growing and a little cash injection would certainly help it along.  The interest is there already despite the continually unbelievable Sepp Blatter’s suggestion that women footballers, in order to attract more male fans, should “wear tighter shorts and low cut shirts … to create a female aesthetic.” 

Surely the women’s game would be a good place to put some of the money from the FA’s bottomless coffers. Unless of course Wembley needs more corporate boxes or a bigger kitchen.

Peter Stickney

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