The social climate in France should not destabilize them too much. Opponents of the French women’s team, Tuesday April 11, at 9:10 p.m., in Le Mans, the Canadians will not be confused by the strikes stirring France for months, in opposition to the pension reform. In this preparatory meeting for the Women’s Football World Cup – which will take place from July 20 to August 20 in Australia and New Zealand – with the quarter-finalists of the last World Cup opposing the Olympic champions, the Blues are not not the only ones to have recently reported their internal setbacks. If the French team had to overcome the rebellion of certain executives, the dismissal of Corinne Deacon and the arrival of Hervé Renard, the Canadian players have chosen to strike.
World title contenders this summer, the Olympic gold medalists in Tokyo led a fight off the field, for parity between men and women. On February 10, they announced they would go on strike and no longer train or play games until further notice. The reason ? “Significant cuts” to their budget for 2023. The purpose of this strike? Denounce gender inequalities, the means allocated by Canada Soccer (the Canadian football federation) and demand “immediate change”.
“We’re being asked to just do with less. This is an unacceptable burden, especially during this crucial cycle for our team. We feel frustrated and, once again, deeply disrespected by Canada Soccer,” the team wrote in its statement.
A one-day strike that pays off
As highlighted by team captain Christine Sinclair, the federation has granted more than double the means to the men’s team than to the women’s team in 2021, or 11 million Canadian dollars (approximately 7 .5 million euros), against almost 5 million Canadian dollars, while the expenses the previous year were rather similar between the two teams. Meanwhile, the Lille partners of Jonathan David had qualified for the World Cup in Qatar, the second participation of the Canucks in men.
This strike only lasted one day. Deeming it illegal and threatening the players with “legal action” to “force them back on the field” – and potentially, demands for “millions of dollars in damages” – Canada Soccer stopped the move in its tracks. If they appeared, a few days later, to play a friendly competition in the United States, the Canadians then reaffirmed that the “cuts” to the budget were “unacceptable”.
But those 24 hours of protest paid off. Two weeks later, the president of the Canadian federation, Nick Bontis, announced his resignation, acknowledging that “the current context requires a change”.
Then, on March 9, Canada Soccer proposed a collective agreement involving equal treatment for its two national teams (appearance fees and victory bonuses). Christine Sinclair’s partners have accepted the deal, but know that fairness is far from being achieved. “We have [the same] pay, but not the [same] opportunities (…) to earn money”, regretted the Canadian captain in an episode of the podcast Laughter Permitted – the ecosystem of women’s football remains less remunerative than in men.
Solidarity between players from different nations
When it comes to facing Les Bleues on Tuesday, the Canadians are not alone in their fight. As early as June 2022, their male counterparts had gone on strike, demanding in particular “fair terms with [the] women’s national team” – a move resulting in the cancellation of a friendly match against Panama.
Among their opponents, the movement of Canada’s players was also supported. Starting with the Americans, two-time reigning world champions, and also activists for fairness – they reached an agreement with their federation at the beginning of 2022. Before a clash between the two teams, on February 16, they had joined with the Canadians to form a circle in the center of the field.
“On these subjects, we are quite united between players from different nations,” said French striker Eugénie Le Sommer on Monday. In the club, the player plays alongside Canadian Vanessa Gilles, and admitted “having talked about it a lot” with her partner, to “understand what she was going through”, lamenting that “an Olympic champion team [can] have this kind of problems.” Nevertheless, if a new day of mobilization is planned this week on the social terrain in France, neither Canada nor the Blues have filed a strike notice on Tuesday.