The Australian women’s football team ‘Matildas’ have been told that improving their pay and conditions will require the country’s male players to give up a portion of their income.
This was made by known by the head of the Australian national soccer body, David Gallop.
The Matildas caused a stir in the football fraternity when they chose to boycott a match tour of the United States to play the Women’s World Cup winners.
Since making the preliminaries in the World Cup, more attention has been drawn to the considerably low salaries earned by Australia’s female representative players, opening more debate on the inequalities that exist between the income earned by men, and that of women.
Football Federation Australia Chief Executive, David Gallop, told the Australian media that the FFA was unable to meet the demands to improve the pay and conditions of players’.
‘If (the union) wish to move some money from the male professional players pot to the Matildas then we’re certainly open to that,’ Gallop told reporters in Sydney.
‘What we’re not open to is additional money because the game simply doesn’t have it.
The FFA and the player’s union have been locked in dispute over the terms of a new collective bargaining agreement that covers both the national men’s and women’s teams, and the top male footballers in Australia’s domestic A-League.
