Editorial: Women footballers sidelined too long

Former coach Ryan Faithfull addressing his players during the Women's National League championship final last year. Photo / Shane Wenzlick, Photosport

EDITORIAL

Football, it is said, is more than a game.

Right now, for the women of Western Springs FC, it’s a fight for respect as they head to mediation over gender inequity that has led to players vowing to quit the club.

The issue has simmered for some time but was brought to a head by exposure in the Weekend Herald on May 13. Since then, current and former Football Ferns have voiced their support for the players, with one offering to help the club find solutions.

Among the allegations are that, despite the team finishing runners-up in the inaugural National Women’s League, their involvement was treated more as a “hassle” for the club than an opportunity.

The women told the Weekend Herald their teams were often the “last choice” for training and matches on the club’s No 1 artificial field. The senior men’s team, who didn’t qualify for the National League after finishing sixth in Auckland, would always get the first choice to use the better facilities.

One player said: “We’re all over the place because our fields get torn up. We don’t get to play on field one if the men are on there – things like that really start to build up over the years.”

Players told the Weekend Herald that the highest-paid senior female squad members received $50 a week to cover expenses, while they believed men’s players were paid nearer to $400.

At the heart of the issue is female players feeling “completely disrespected” by the “highly misogynistic behaviour” of the club’s predominantly male board.

Western Springs Association Football Club's logo. Photo / WSAFC

Western Springs finally released an internal club statement on Thursday night in response to media coverage that has continued over the past week: “Many members will have rightly found these reports troubling, but I assure you we are actively working towards a resolution to the issues raised by members of the premier women’s team.

“While we continuously strive to do better, let me reiterate the club’s strong commitment to its girls’ and women’s football programme and equal access for all our players. We respect the views of players who have taken a stand and believe mediation is the best way to address their concerns.”

However, the club refuses to talk, saying “we won’t be making any public comment at this time to ensure this mediation process has the best chance of success”.

Attempting to quell the genuinely felt unease throughout the club by an internal memo is no solution. The concerns are now shared by the club’s wider community and the public in general. The club leadership should be front and centre, and answerable.

Western Springs received a Government-funded $800,000 upgrade to prepare for use as a training facility during the Fifa Women’s World Cup starting in July, with the club named as a training base for the Norwegian team.

With public money comes public accountability. The club’s leadership has a duty to explain to the people funding those facility upgrades how it is that their top-flight women’s team feels so let down on matters of gender equity.

The situation at Western Springs will almost certainly not be unique. Women in many sporting codes, and indeed across many sectors of society, have pressed into high-achievement roles once exclusively dominated by men – to less than fulsome welcomes.

Management and administration structures that have failed to understand the march of women’s progress have been left scrambling to accommodate a changed host of needs, or worse, make futile efforts at resistance.

Many women pioneers experienced discrimination, opposition and obstruction. Some of this might be understandable, given the size or pace of shifting paradigms. However, it’s long since time to blow the whistle on the denial of what is just and fair.

Western Springs, then, is most likely indicative of a wider issue where women have pressed into all sorts of fields while overarching structures haven’t necessarily kept pace with the changes.

At the Meola Rd-based club, equity is one matter but a clear failure to listen is a big issue too.

Sports administrators often have a thankless time, putting in long hours, many unpaid. To a man – or woman – they have taken the role because of a passion for the sport, a desire to support players and a loyalty to the club.

There are countless sports administrators who do fantastic jobs and have raised women’s participation, enjoyment and achievement beyond where they found it. But those who let this cause down do everyone a poor disservice.

For football, the Fifa tournament is a chance for all involved in the sport to realise the potential that women present, and to address reasonable demands of players and supporters.