FIFA Women's World Cup on fake turf draws legal threat

A group of elite international women's soccer players is taking legal action against the soccer’s international governing body, FIFA, for gender discrimination.

The female athletes are upset that next year’s Women's World Cup tournament, hosted by Canada, will be played on artificial turf — something they say would never happen in a men’s tournament.

We just saw the World Cup in Brazil. We just know there’s absolutely no way the men would play on fake grass, said CarrieSerwetnyk, a former national player who founded the non-profit organization Equal Play.

“So to think it’s OK for the Women’s World Cup to be played on artificial turf, what kind of a message does that send?”

Professional-level soccer competitions should always be played on real grass. Soccer is all about touch. Real grass

is a better touch. During the World Cup, we saw players go sliding and landing in all kinds of directions. They have the privilege of landing on grass, which isn’t as hard.

The group of women recently sent a letter to Canadian soccer officials and FIFA president Sepp Blatter saying artificial turf is a "second-class surface."

They stated that there’s no doubt that the men would not be asked to play on a second-class surface for their world class tournament. It’s already been established that the men’s World Cup tournaments in 2018 and 2022 will be on grass. There’s no reason the women should be treated as second-class,” said Hampton Dellinger, a lawyer representing the group of players.

The games will be played in six different cities: Montreal, Ottawa, Moncton, N.B., Winnipeg, Edmonton and Vancouver.

 “Canada has made a commitment in its provincial human rights codes, in its national charter, that gender discrimination is prohibited,” Dellinger said.

By Adriana Rueda

Source: CBC News

Image: CBC News