The local soccer community has stood by the Canada women’s national team as players protest what they see as significant program cuts.
For one proponent, the row between the women’s team and Soccer Canada hits home. Helen Stoumbos says the challenges women face in sport have been around for years and call for big changes.
“Like their t-shirts said when they took to the field the other day – I think enough is enough and we have to start looking for what’s wrong,” said Guelph’s Stoumbos, a former Canada international and Canada’s first-ever goalscorer World Cup goal.
As a sign of protest and solidarity, Canadians at Thursday’s SheBelieves Cup donned purple and called for gender equality.
For Stoumbos, the conflict has been brewing for a long time.
“It’s nothing new, but sad given all the success the women’s program has had. The fact that they are defending gold medalists at the Olympics [but] They’re still fighting for equal opportunities,” Stoumbos told CTV News.
The Canadians played after a short-lived protest following threats of legal action from Soccer Canada. Players are upset with the cuts to their program and support from the organization ahead of this summer’s World Cup.
In a statement released on February 11, the federation acknowledged there was still work to be done and said it was working towards an agreement with both the men’s and women’s teams: “… This agreement will be as soon as it is finalized , to be a historic agreement will make real change and pay justice in Canadian football.”
Ivan Joseph, the head coach of Guelph United Women’s Soccer, says he stands with Canadian women athletes in this ongoing protest.
“That they don’t have the same funding, that they haven’t been paid as they fill stadiums since last year is a farce and continues this unfair approach that we see around the world,” he said. “Our women’s team is on the brink of collapse. Fortunately, we had a GM who stepped in and said, ‘No, this team is important to our region and our city,’ and they’re going to save it, but that’s the same systemic challenge that’s everywhere.”
For Stoumbos, there is no time for change like now.
“I think it’s really important to have a united front and I think it’s great that they’re supporting their struggles as well,” she said. “I just think there’s no better time than now.”
Canada Soccer officials are expected to testify before a federal committee as early as March, and the Alumni Association is encouraging the committee to bring in former players to shed light on what they call “abuse of power, systemic misogyny and a total lack of accountability”.
Source: kitchener.ctvnews.ca
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