At 3PM EDT on Friday, I’ll be watching the coverage via Fox of our great women’s soccer team playing the host team in Paris. It is only the quarterfinals of the World Cup and yet this may be the game of the entire match. Unfortunately the Idiot in Chief has been writing a lot of insulting tweets:
President Donald Trump has invited the U.S. women’s soccer team to the White House, regardless of whether they win the World Cup, after Megan Rapinoe’s assertion that she is “not going to the f—ing White House.” Rapinoe, who has described herself as a “walking protest” to Trump’s policies, made her recent comments about a potential White House visit to soccer magazine Eight by Eight.
I support Megan Rapinoe and guess what – her teammates do too:
I am not going to fake it, hobnob with the president, who is clearly against so many of the things that I am (for) and so many of the things that I actually am,” Rapinoe told SI. “I have no interest in extending our platform to him.” Fellow U.S. star Alex Morgan also has said she would decline an invitation to the White House, telling Time Magazine that she doesn’t “stand for a lot of things the current office stands for.” “We don’t have to be put in this little box,” Morgan told Time in an interview published last month. “There’s the narrative that’s been said hundreds of times about any sort of athlete who’s spoken out politically. ‘Stick to sports.’ We’re much more than that, OK?”
Yes you are Alex! Of course a real President would just shut up and let our athletes have center stage. That is what President Obama did in 2015 and when Team USA won – they were glad to celebrate with him at the White House. But Trump thinks he is the center of the universe:
Women’s soccer player, @mPinoe, just stated that she is “not going to the F…ing White House if we win.” Other than the NBA, which now refuses to call owners, owners (please explain that I just got Criminal Justice Reform passed, Black unemployment is at the lowest level…
This was his first tweet, which has not a damn thing to do either with soccer or even the Golden State Warriors. But here is the choice line from tweet two:
I am a big fan of the American Team, and Women’s Soccer, but Megan should WIN first before she TALKS!
First of all – our very fat President has no clue what the game of soccer is even about. But “WIN first before she TALKS!”? Is this like telling Lebron to shut up and play basketball? I guess Trump thinks these women should just look pretty and never talk. Of course Lebron is a man but then he is a black man who has no right to express his views either. Of course Kelly Anne Conway has the First Amendment right to violate the Hatch Act when she is saying what he wants her to say. OK tweet #3:
“Megan should never disrespect our Country, the White House, or our Flag, especially since so much has been done for her & the team. Be proud of the Flag that you wear. The USA is doing GREAT!”
The team is doing great no thanks to Trump. The only disrespect for our nation is coming from Trump himself. But WTF have we done for these athletes. Does Trump even know that when they won the World Cup in 2015, the pay per player for the world champions was a mere $75,000? Slave wages – which I guess is exactly what Trump thinks women athletes deserve. Update: Stuart Varney uses his Fox Business show to kiss Trump’s rear end:
Soccer star Megan Rapinoe dissing President Trump was a bridge too far for Fox Business Network’s Stuart Varney. After Rapinoe, co-captain of the U.S. women’s national soccer team, preemptively declined an invitation to the White House if team USA wins the Women’s World Cup, Varney said Wednesday she doesn’t deserve to lead the team.
Fox Business Network gets no say as to who leads the team. And I’m sure the team will just laugh at this idiotic statement from Mr. Varney.
About the pay disparity.
Seems to me that revenue drives salaries. I have looked into this a little bit, but I am not certain if I have the correct answer.
” Recently, it was revealed the women’s team will split $2 million for their victory. Germany, which won last years Men’s World Cup, was awarded $35 million.
“We shouldn’t keep deciding of who’s more important, our sons or our daughters, our husbands or our wives, that people should be treated equally,” said Deborah Slaner Larkin with the National Women’s Sports Foundation.
FIFA, who runs the World Cup, says the prizes are based on revenue.
This years figures have not been released, but four years ago the Women’s World Cup brought in almost $73 million. The 2010 Men’s World Cup in South Africa made almost $4 billion. Those players got $348 million, or 9 percent of the total revenue. The women’s team got a higher percentage with 13 percent, but the bottom line was still much less, $10 million.”
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/questions-of-equal-pay-brought-to-light-after-womens-world-cup-win/
And then there is just national revenue.
“U.S. women’s soccer games have generated more revenue than U.S. men’s games over the past three years.
That’s according to audited financial statements from the U.S. Soccer Federation (USSF) obtained by The Wall Street Journal. In 2016, women’s games generated $1.9 million more in revenue than men’s games. From 2016 to 2018, women’s games generated approximately $50.8 million in revenue, compared with $49.9 million for men’s games.”
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/19/us-womens-soccer-games-now-generate-more-revenue-than-mens.html
Obviously the FIFA money is far larger than local revenue, especially for the men.
EMichael – thanks for the information. I trust the audited financials from USSF. I do not trust anything FIFA tells us. And why are earth does FIFA get to keep such a huge percentage of the revenues?
PGL:
I am going to add what I know.
I ran State Cup Soccer for young women and men youth in Michigan maybe 20 years ago. These was for players up to 18 years old. I made it an event were an ~ 150 young women’s and an ~ 300 young men’s teams would arrive at a set of fields distant from their home fields. It removed what was the home field advantage, what was believed to be home field refereeing, and the soccer club advantage (being called best in the state). I also set in place a set of rules (not to be confused with FIFA laws) governing conduct (swearing at a referee, penalty for fighting, parents harassing or threatening a referee, etc.) at the State Cup Tournament. It was three days of hell. The young women’s teams were far easier to govern. The young men’s teams were more difficult. Charting the numbers of cards given, women had far fewer and men had an increase starting from 14 to 18 with the onset of testosterone. I had one male parent arrested for shoving a referee and warned the parents in the stands they would be asked to leave the game till it was complete if I was called over again. Snickers sponsored us as well as others which I secured. I set the referees up with accommodations.
I made State Cup in Michigan an event and I helped to put young women’s soccer on the same plane as young men’s as an event and an opportunity. I had teams create player profiles to be given to college coaches coming to look at the older teams. I made sure the college coaches knew of the events.
Three years I did this before the politics became too much from the fewer clubs (young men’s side) who were dominant. Leveling the playing field and removing influence is fraught with dangers.
My sons played through college at dominant soccer colleges. My daughter was not interested beyond club soccer. I helped as a director for the Madison 56ers before it became a business, ran their tournaments too, and until businesses interfered even though we were nonprofit.
I think I have enough background to talk on this topic.
I was looking around for an article to explain why this disparity. I could not find much; but this one comes the closest: “Yes, the US women’s soccer team is dominant. That’s because most of the world is playing catch-up” Men’s Soccer is not expected to win in International Soccer amongst teams that have been playing as clubs for decades before the US even got started. The men’s side is ancient and well established with traditional rivalries. I have any number of shirts from men’s clubs such as Kaiserslautern, Homburg, France’s national team, etc. from my travels in Europe in the early nineties. I did not know of any women’s teams then. Women’s soccer is catching up and the traditional Europe and South American clubs are throwing money at it heavily to catchup with the Americans. This is the same as US men’s Org. and clubs throwing money at their players (ranked 30th in the world) to catch up with Brazil, Argentina, Germany, England, etc. Brazil had banned women’s soccer for a number of years.
The time is rapidly approaching when the best US women playing soccer will start to play for foreign teams because the “money” is there. It will level the playing field and the rest of the world will catch up quickly. Within the next couple of years, you will see a migration of women to other countries as you no longer have to be a citizen to play for a country, just show a significant attachment to that country perhaps a residency there. When the migration begins, women’s soccer salaries will skyrocket also as will World Cup.
Most people “still” do not find soccer exciting. I find the African teams have the most artistic manner of playing. The crosses and patterns of play are magnificent to watch. What made my younger son’s soccer team so dominant in Wisconsin was Mamadou Kone our coach from Senegal who we paid $2000/year, plus expenses, and also for his trips with us to tournaments. Not much and he washed dishes. An educated and dignified villager who spoke 4 languages, was not well liked by white locals, and put us at the top of state soccer. He once told a young player who had sassed him; “You would not talk to me in this manner in my village.” This was the only time I saw him to be a “bit” angry.
There is a lot going on in this comment; but, look at it as a history of what I have seen since the late eighties.
I too did a little youth soccer coaching. Mostly 6 to 10 year olds where the girls and boys played on the same team. The kids were a joy but some of the parents were not. I had a habit of taking the offensive parents to the side and letting them know their kid was doing great as a team player and the parent should just watch silently during the game. Unless he was willing to come to our practices and help out as he learned what we were trying to get our team to accomplish.
BTW – Megan Rapinoe was awesome in Paris last night. Next up – the English. Nothing against the English women but most of the English male players I ever met were arrogant jerks. USA!
PGL:
I went to training at University of Wisconsin with Jim Launder and Ian Barker for my D License and went to referee classes. For me, it was fun. Many soccer clubs are more into taking your money these days and it is more a business. Sure they are good; but, at what price and cost? Somewhere in the child is lost. With the expenditures of vast amounts of money to train little Johnny or Jillian, the game is lost. By the time they are out of high school, they are weary of all the training. It will only get more intense in college.
The English are pains as are the Germans. Since I can understand the language, it is easy to rebut them and put them in their proper place. I find the French to be obnoxious.
It will be fun to see them win again and take the Cup.