Megan Rapinoe

I wasn’t aware of Rose, I will google and read up.

 

It’s a good story. She was on Radio Scotland a couple of weeks ago talking of her footballing time.
Interesting to hear of her fight for recognition which she never got in Scotland and had to move to Italy to play. Took Italian citizenship and played at the highest level there

 

I think the range of salaries between the top players and the lower, say L1, L2 is massive. I would suggest that she is paid more than many male players. However in football its clear that salaries are based on the value attributed by the paying club. Value can be based on many things as well as performance on the pitch and contribution to trophies such as shirt sales, sponsorship, IP rights etc. If the national team secured the same value from the players as mens then they should pay the same.

 

On any metric you wish to measure, the US Women's Team smokes the male team.

So she's right.

 

Got to agree with that 'as good' thing. It's not that it's not as good or that the players aren't as good etc it's purely that they aren't as big, strong or fast but does big strong but those attributes alone don't make them better otherwise Bolt would have secured the football contract he's tried so many times to get. The reality is that there are women out there just as skillful as the top men, there's certainly women in England who on skill alone would !walk into Barnsley's team.

What gets me is when someone watches women's football and then slags it off saying it's slower, the shots aren't as powerful etc than the men's. Don't go into the game expecting Fara Williams to have the same speed as Lingard and maybe then you won't be disappointed. I watch it considering it a slightly different game to the men's game and really enjoy it. A bit like how if I watch a league 2 game I don't go in with the expectation of seeing the skill of a premier League game, I go expecting to see more rawness and physicality.

Edit: just realised it looked like I compared womens game to league 2. I think in this comparison the women's team would be more like the premier League and men's more like league 2.

 

When it comes to technical ability, crowds/viewing figures don't play any part. When it comes to payment and compensation, then crowds and viewing figures are amongst the most important metrics. The reason the top male players are earning what they are, is because of the money they bring into their club/national team. Be that be something direct, like gate receipts, shirt sales, sponsorships, or other merchandising or indirect by simply raising their clubs/league reputation(Beckham in the MLS, for example). So yes, it is about spectators.

Yes, the men's game has been dominant almost from the start and has been hamstrung time and time again, but the truth of the matter is that apart from the US, the men's game is massively more popular, which means there is more money to throw about.

The wages the women players earn will improve over time, assuming the sport continues to grow. Remember, it took over 100 years to get to the point the mens game is at. I hope the women's game does eventually match it too.

On a side note, do you think women's games should be played on the same sized pitch as the men use, and have the same sized goals? According to a BBC report from 2010, the average man is 6inch taller than the average sized woman. Should the goals be made slightly smaller to give the 'keepers more of a chance?

 

I know you asked fired but the height of a football goal has been set at 8 feet for over 100 years. When they were introduced the average height for a man was 5'5", it's now 5'9" (the average for a woman is 5'3" I think) with goalkeepers being traditionally taller than average.

100 years ago the two most regular keepers England had were both 5'9" and they used goals that were set at 8 foot just like now. England women's keepers at the world cup a couple of years ago were 5'9 and 6'0 tall.

I'd say that based on that there's nothing wrong with the height of the goals for a woman, they've always been set at quite a height compared to the average person, it's just that male goalkeepers now are much taller than average

 

I would say tens of millions.

 

Popcorn anyone?

 

there's people with no jobs living in tents because of the pandemic, do not know how she got the cheek to moan about money,if your on the Americans women squad your on 170,000 dollars a year, plus 5000 dollar win bonus, if both men and women's team won all matches per year,average around 20, then the women would get around 30000 less than the men, but its likely the women will earn more as they will win more,also money she can earn from club and endorsements reckon she on 1 million dollars a year, think that Miss Rapinoe as an agenda ,good luck to her but more needy people in world for me to worry about

 

Women shouldn’t be paid a fair wage for a job they do (although men can for the same job and that’s fine) because some people live in tents? I’ve heard it all now.

 

The salary levels for top footballers are obscene. If anything we should be driving down the mens salaries to the level of the women at the very least.
The argument made in favour of these exorbitant salaries is usually that it's an entertainment industry so levels are ok as people are willing to pay to see it. I'm afraid if that argument holds sway then women footballers should expect similarly a remuneration people are willing to pay. The cold, hard fact is that, at the moment, women's football is not as in demand as men's.