Attempts to force Canada to stage the Women's World Cup on grass instead of artificial turf is now a legal matter, with US football star Abby Wambach joining a group of players "fully prepared to go forward zealously and aggressively in court" to force a change, their lawyer said.
The players, who have no plans to boycott next year’s tournament, allege gender discrimination because the men’s World Cup is always staged on grass. Legal papers were filed on the matter at the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal, naming football’s governing body Fifa and the Canadian Soccer Association (CSA) as defendants. Solicitor Hampton Dellinger said real grass could be installed at the six World Cup stadiums for two to three million dollars .
Seeking an expedited hearing next month so that a ruling can be issued in time for the turf to be changed, Mr Dellinger said that the tribunal gave Fifa and the CSA until next Thursday to respond to the filing.
“It is a drop in the bucket in terms of Fifa’s coffers,” Mr Dellinger said. “Canada is one of the richest nations on earth.” The players say the game is inherently different on artificial turf. The ball bounces differently, there’s a greater risk of injury and the recovery period is longer — a particular concern in a tournament in which many games are compressed into a tight schedule.
"It totally changes the game," said Germany's Nadine Angerer, Fifa's reigning world player of the year. "It's not fair why our game should be changed."
Wambach, Angerer, US forward Alex Morgan, Brazil's Fabiana Da Silva Simoes and Spain's Veronica Boquete are among the players bringing the legal action. They have been complaining about the issue for years — since Canada's proposal to play on artificial turf was accepted — and they sent a letter to Fifa and the CSA in July, saying they were prepared to take the legal action.
Since then, there has been growing support for the women on social media, with celebrities including actor Tom Hanks and NBA star Kobe Bryant joining the cause.
Tim Howard, the goalkeeper for the US men's team, also voiced his support on Twitter. "We have to stand up and put our foot down and say, 'You know what? This isn't good enough. This isn't right and we deserve to be treated equally as the men,'"
Wambach, the sport’s all-time goal-scoring leader, said. On Tuesday, a Fifa official visiting Canada ahead of the tournament next year said there were no plans to reconsider using artificial turf.
"We play on artificial turf and there's no Plan B," said Tatjana Haenni, Fifa's head of women's competitions. Fifa, which is based in Zurich, said: "While we are aware of the recent media reports, at the time of writing we have not been officially contacted on the matter, and therefore we are not in a position to comment."
The women have lost some leverage by declaring they have no plans to boycott the World Cup. Angerer and Boquete reiterated that stance on Thursday. “Right now, we focus on the lawsuit,” Boquete said. “And we expect that FIFA and the Canadian federation will listen to us and try to find a solution. Right now we didn’t think about more than that.”
Fifa rules stipulate that matches can be played on artificial turf if special dispensation is granted, as happened in Canada’s case. Canada’s bid for the event specified that the final match be held at Vancouver’s BC Place, which has artificial turf. Fifa regulations state that all matches in a tournament must be played on the same kind of surface.
