The Matildas – An Equal Pay Deal We Can Get Behind

No, get your minds out of the gutter, not that sort of behind. This isn’t beach volleyball after all, this is soccer. The Matildas, the Australian women’s soccer team, have just struck an equal pay deal. They’ll be getting the same deal as the Socceroos that is, the men’s team. Which is excellent, of course it is:

Football Federation Australia and Professional Footballers Australia have detailed a landmark collective bargaining agreement that closes the pay gap between Australia’s national teams, the Socceroos and Matildas.

The new four-year CBA ensures the Socceroos and Matildas receive a 24% share of an agreed aggregate of national team generated revenues in 2019-20, rising by 1% each year.

The new agreement reflects football’s determination to address issues of gender equality in all facets of the game.

Super duper. Why shouldn’t people be treated equally across gender?

True, the Matildas once lost (11 – nil if memory serves, maybe 9 – nil) to the Colts, ie under 17 side, of a men’s professional club but still. That’s why we have the biological gender division here because women just couldn’t play competitive sport, let alone ever win, without said discrimination.

There is though one little detail which The Guardian decided not to tell us. Funny that:

Although both teams will now receive a 40% cut of prize money at tournaments, the men’s team will typically receive more overall – because their prize money tends to be higher.

It’s not equal pay, it’s an equal deal.

And we’re just fine around here with equal deals. But we do rather expect there to be a lot of whining in the future. After all, we get just such whining right now. People who aren’t prepared to work 70 hours a week throughout their fertile years don’t get to be CEO. According to current mores this is an outrage which must be dealt with. But it’s the same deal, isn’t it?