ZCZC
BSP-21
FBL-ESP-LIGA
Female players to go on strike in Spain over pay and conditions
MADRID, Oct 23, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Almost 200 female footballers in Spain from
various first division clubs have voted to go on strike over pay and working
conditions.
The vote late Tuesday won the support of 93 per cent of 188 players from
16 clubs after more than a year of failed negotiations with the Association
of Women’s Football Clubs (ACFF).
Clubs are proposing part-time salaries worth 8,000 euros a year while the
players are demanding a minumum of 12,000, amounting to 75 per cent of
minimum full-time contracts.
“We are footballers 24 hours a day, 100 per cent of the time,” said Ainhoa
Tirapu, goalkeeper for Athletic Bilbao and the Spanish national team.
“We hope to reach an agreement at some point but we had to take drastic
action because the time for women’s football is now.”
A date for the start of the strike has not been set but it could affect
the Women’s Champions League, with Atletico Madrid playing against Manchester
City next week.
“We want an agreement now, that is worthy and with equality,” said David
Aganzo, president of the Association of Women’s Players (AFE).
“We have enjoyed talking about all the positive things in women’s
football, many of them on show at the World Cup, but the players also need an
improvement in their working conditions, that recognise what they do. In the
21st century, women deserve respect.”
Last season, women’s football enjoyed a record-breaking season in Spain as
60,739 people turned out to watch Barcelona play Atletico Madrid at the Wanda
Metropolitano in March.
But when the two sides met again last month, Barca’s victory was not even
shown on television.
“It was disappointing,” Atletico’s Toni Duggan told AFP earlier this
month. “Last season there were 60,000 people in the stadium and they can’t
even televise the game the next year.
“If it’s like that, how you do build? How do you progress?”
BSS/AFP/BZC/1947HRS