Women in football

[Guest Cornishdave1980]

Whilst trawling thorug the BBC sport pages i came across the text below and a debate had started. The answer (male mainly) were quite disgusting but i thought i test it on this site as we do have a good balance of sensible people on here.

The England Women football team reached the last eight of the World Cup in China in September. And earned £40 per day from the Football Association while doing so.

Having read it i couldnt believe the FA were not even covering loss of earnings! im saying you should get paid to play for your country butif you lose earnings because of it they should be replaced.

What do you all think?

[font=Arial]Am I alone in thinking this is a mistake?

First off, let's be clear. Even the women internationals themselves are not saying they should be earning the same as their male counterparts. Far from it.

But £40 per day - which broadly equates to the national minimum wage - has effectively financially penalised the women for representing their country.

What is the knock-on effect of this? The players have to work extra hours to make up the shortfall in wages. Their fitness suffers as a result. The quality of play - good enough for a last-eight finish at the World Cup - will inevitably suffer.

Performances will be poorer. England's women may begin to struggle to qualify for major tournaments. The sport, already struggling for exposure, will get even less coverage. The players' profiles will get lower.

All this on a day when figures show that just 20% of young women in the UK are doing a healthy amount of exercise.

The England Women team represents a golden opportunity for the FA to promote a sport which provides good female sporting role models.

Will today's teenagers aspire to become part of a team which will cost them financially in the long run?

To give the FA credit, investment in the women's game has increased. Indeed, an FA spokesman points out that it has never put more money into the women's game than it does now.

But to my mind, it's still not enough. What do you think?

[Guest Luffy]

It is a pretty poor showing from the FA if they reward our women footballers with only £40 a day when they have achieved something their male counterparts may not be able to fulfill and that is get to a major championship.

Male football players who represent their country get approx £3000 per game and this is without any win bonus. I feel that the women footballers who represented their country so well should have received at least £1000 per week plus win bonus.

The problem with football and with most sport in this country it is extremely poorly run at the very top and because of this the sport itself suffers at an international level.

I hope the FA see sense and reward our lady footballers in the future because the way the men are going they may be the only team we see in any sort of championship at senior level for the next few years.

[Guest Ronin]

Taken from the FA website:

Football For All is about fairness.

It's about doing things properly. About making sure everyone has a chance to be involved in football, regardless of ability, race, religion or background. About encouraging and increasing the involvement of groups at all levels of football by recognising that inequalities exist and taking steps to address them.

It's about making opportunities available where currently there are few available. About using the power of football to build a better future. In order to achieve these objectives, Football For All has become a part of everything we do at The FA

I would think this issue over the women's pay scheme counted as an "inequality" and I would hope the FA are taking steps to put it right.

[Guest postman pat]

because womens football is at the developement stage it is still classed as minority.maybe now they have done well on a world stage the money may come into the game.the womens game is on a par with athletics in this country and you have to perform first before you can earn money.how many professional teams do we have in this country.even players like kelly smith had to go to america to earn a living first and she was one of if not the best player in the tournament.until there is mass participation on the scale of mens football our women footballers will always be treated this way unless a wealthy russian comes on the scene to bail them out. one other valid point there is not enough pitches/refs to go around for mens football so as womens football gets more popular as it will this will add to the strain on resourses of clubs and councils.what will the fa do about these very serious problems because the game as we know it is struggling now with not enough pitches/refs.well done to our womens team you did our country proud lets hope the men do the same on wednesday

because womens football is at the developement stage it is still classed as minority.maybe now they have done well on a world stage the money may come into the game.the womens game is on a par with athletics in this country and you have to perform first before you can earn money.how many professional teams do we have in this country.even players like kelly smith had to go to america to earn a living first and she was one of if not the best player in the tournament.until there is mass participation on the scale of mens football our women footballers will always be treated this way unless a wealthy russian comes on the scene to bail them out. one other valid point there is not enough pitches/refs to go around for mens football so as womens football gets more popular as it will this will add to the strain on resourses of clubs and councils.what will the fa do about these very serious problems because the game as we know it is struggling now with not enough pitches/refs.well done to our womens team you did our country proud lets hope the men do the same on wednesday :c:

[Guest plainmoor]

All of the women in the england squad are full time professionals, therefore they are paid by their clubs a salary for 52 weeks of the year, they will not lose out by staying in a foreign country for 4 weeks with their partners and children also flown out at the expense of the fa.

[Guest]

Cobblers plainmoor. Many of those girls are employed by their clubs to do a job of work. development etc. They still have to train and play and it is the only way they can play top class football.