THE Brazilian Football Confederation (BFC) announced last week that it is introducing an equal pay policy which means their women’s national team will now receive the same daily stipend as their male counterparts.
This is another piece of good news, with England joining this list earlier this year alongside Australia, Norway and New Zealand, as we continue to put the pieces of the jigsaw of equality together for women in sport.
Let’s just stop for a minute and reflect on this as in most countries the payment to players is nominal, although they have the opportunity to enhance this through appearance and performance-related income.
However, we still have the domestic issue which needs to be dealt with.
Many years ago, when I worked with Scottish Women’s Football, I had responsibility for the national squad – now under the auspices of the Scottish FA – I received an invitation to take our women’s national squad to Brazil for a series of three friendly games. These were all kindly paid for by our hosts, who at that time were not affiliated to the BFC. This was an invitation and an adventure that we couldn’t ignore. Ten days in Sau Paulo just before Christmas – who could ask for more?
It was a fascinating trip that definitely lent strength to the statement that you can “get involved in sport and see the world”.
At that point, there were no individual superstars in the Brazilian women’s team, but they were a fit and athletic group and they also had great home support for all three games, which at times was quite overpowering for the Scottish contingent who watched in bewilderment as the crowd roared constantly for the home team.
My abiding memory was the enthusiasm of the Brazilian support which was overwhelming, particularly in the last game of the trip. Both I and some of the support staff were escorted from the stand for our own safety to join the team on the bench, where we were flanked by armed police, who also escorted us off the park at full-time! Yet overall a great trip and some good memories.
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