PROFESSIONAL female soccer players who competed in last year's W-League grand
final played for as little as $100 per week. They barely had enough money to pay
for petrol to get to training.
Compare that to the wages of A-League pin-up Alessandro Del Piero, who
recently signed a $4 million deal over two seasons which works out at $74,000
per week.
As if earning 740 times more than last year's W-League grand
finalists isn't enough, Del Piero also gets a free house and plenty more
perks.
All that and he's washed-up as an international, while many women
earning paltry wages in the W-League also play for our national women's team,
the Matildas.
That's hardly fair, when you consider that the Matildas are
ranked 9th in the world, while the Socceroos are ranked 34th and plummeting
fast.
Here's another thing that's not fair. W-League teams are forced to
play in the heat of the day in the middle of a summer season so they can fit in
with the ABC TV schedule, or so they can leave the ground free for the men
playing A-League fixtures.
It's insult after insult.
And all this in an age when our only decent tennis player is a woman and our
female Olympians win more medals than their male counterparts.
Sally
Pearson and Sam Stosur aren't exactly struggling for a dollar thee days. Nor are
many other high profile Aussie sportswomen. But the majority of our W-Leaguers
are virtually broke.
Yet despite their relative hardship, they aren't
complaining. In fact, many, like Perth Glory central midfielder Aivi Luik, say
they're lucky to have anything.
"Sometimes I look at the millions men can
earn and I'm a little jealous, yes. My boyfriend and I often talk about how
different it would be if it was him in my position.
"Those thoughts go
through your head, of course they do. But if you look back at women's football
in the old days, they had to pay for everything. Their flights, their
accommodation, everything. We've been on contracts now for three or four
years."
Luik, who has 11 Australian caps, was one of those Brisbane Roar
players struggling on $100 a week last season, even though her team made the
grand final.
She has since transferred from the Roar to Perth Glory on a
(slightly) more lucrative contract after a playing stint in the USA. From what
she's seen here and overseas, Luik believes Australia could soon challenge for
the number-one spot in women's soccer.
"We could be number one
eventually, yeah. Obviously money would help but it's more about exposure and
keeping the game in the school system."
As Australia's women continue
their global climb, you'd hope someone gives the sport a massive injection of
funds which filters through to player payments.
It'd sure be a better
investment than flushing millions down the toilet in a failed World Cup bid.