Purple protest as Canada players take pay dispute to the pitch
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[February 17, 2023]
(Reuters) - The Canadian women's soccer team took their
dispute with their national association onto the pitch on Thursday
by wearing purple jerseys with "Enough is Enough" written on the
front ahead of their SheBelieves Cup opener against the United
States.
The team's protest is the latest escalation in their dispute with
Canada Soccer over pay equity issues.
"Tonight, our players will be wearing purple as a symbol of
protest," said the Canadian Players Association in a statement.
"Considering the current circumstances, our players will continue to
wear purple until our association has standard in place that ensure
equal treatment and opportunity."
The Canadians wore the purple t-shirts during warmups at Exploria
Stadium in Orlando, Florida before changing into their traditional
red kit but wearing purple tape on their wrists.
Purple has historically been associated with efforts to achieve
gender equality.
The Canadians lost the match 2-0.
The Olympic champions had boycotted training last Saturday while
demanding immediate changes but reversed course later that day as
Canada Soccer called their strike unlawful and threatened legal
action.
The squad said they would play under protest at the four-nation
SheBelieves Cup.
In a media call on Tuesday, the players said the "disgusting"
discrepancy between the Canada men’s and women’s soccer programmes
became obvious last year in Qatar, where Canada's men made their
first World Cup appearance in 37 years in November.
Canada Soccer spent $11 million on the men’s programme in 2021, and
$5.1 million on the women.
Canada Soccer has said it has a "proven track record" of supporting
the women's game and that pay equity was "at the core" of ongoing
player negotiations.
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Members of Canada's National Women's
soccer team wear protest t-shirts before their match against the
U.S. at the SheBelieves Cup women's soccer tournament in Orlando,
Florida, U.S., February 16, 2023. REUTERS/Joe Skipper
U.S. forward Mallory Swanson scored both goals
against Canada on Thursday.
She connected with a cross from Alex Morgan for a stunning finish in
the seventh minute before slotting home in the 34th minute following
a defensive mistake from Canada.
Canada captain Christine Sinclair said the team were "mentally
exhausted".
"Either we're fighting for everything and come out on fire or we
come out flat. And I think you saw those first 10, 15 minutes, we
came out flat," Sinclair said.
"I think we looked like a team that was tired, a team that's
mentally exhausted, coming up against a team, I mean, they're
defending World Cup champions for a reason and you have to be at
your best to compete with them. And we weren't tonight."
The Canadians will face Brazil on Sunday before taking on Japan
three days later.
Brazil defeated Japan 1-0 in the tournament's opening match, Debinha
scoring the only goal.
(Reporting by Steve Keating in Toronto and Manasi Pathak in
Bengaluru, Editing by Peter Rutherford)
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