You are not the only one, Chantal, to ask yourself this question. We responded to it in March 2022. Here is what we wrote:
“Basically, the answer is a question of sexism, money and broadcast schedule. Women played five-set matches at the U.S. National Championships, the forerunner of the U.S. Open, until 1901. After that year’s tournament, it was decided to return to three-set matches only for women. . “We” excluding the main interested parties, obviously. The officials, all men, judge that the five-set matches are too demanding for the women. Thus was created the tradition, today difficult to counterbalance, of matches of only three sets for female tennis players.
“The issue does not come to the forefront until the end of the century. In 1976, led by the initiative of the legendary Billie Jean King, women voted to play five-set matches in Grand Slam tournaments. But no tournament changes its rules accordingly. In 1984, the equivalent of what we know today as the WTA Finals experimented with a five-set final. This remained the case until 1998. Despite excellent matches, some athletes, including Steffi Graf, were not particularly attached to the format. Today, we fear that the length of the clashes will complicate the television broadcast schedule, and therefore the sale of rights to broadcasters. Tournament directors also don’t have much to gain from having to deal with longer matches. We therefore remain with the status quo in this regard. »
The disparity between the salaries of soccer players is indeed gigantic in Europe. And this, despite a clear improvement in recent years. Women’s salaries are not made public. It is therefore difficult to speak of clear figures. In 2022, the BBC revealed that England captain Leah Williamson won 200,000 pounds sterling (C$336,600) during this year’s Lionesses coronation at the Euro. For comparison, the British media mentions that his male counterpart Harry Kane “[earned] as much money in one week”.
In addition, Williamson’s salary is among the highest in the Women’s Super League (WSL), England’s premier women’s league. The BBC added, citing a study of its own, that the average salary of athletes playing in the WSL was 47,000 pounds in 2022, or $79,000 CAN. Kevin De Bruyne at Manchester City is estimated to be paid £20m per year. Women’s soccer is experiencing real growth all over the world. But there is still a lot of work to do to achieve parity.
It is certainly because this sport is less known and less covered here that we talk about it less. But the issue is making headlines elsewhere in the world, in places where the sport is enthusiastically practiced and enjoyed. Like in France, where the Rugby League World Cup was recently held.
“In the middle of the Rugby World Cup, concussions caused by violent impacts have become a public health issue,” wrote Radio France Internationale two weeks ago.
“Rugby is not the sport most at risk of concussions,” the magazine of the National Institute of Health and Medical Research pointed out in September. But in France, it’s the one we talk about the most. »
Research is progressing in this area, but the scourge of concussions in rugby has long been neglected. At the professional level, protocols have been put in place on the field in recent years, which have improved the rapid treatment of the athletes concerned. But it is said that the short, medium and long term effects of successive concussions are still unknown.
The Canadian Soccer Business (CSB) entity has existed since 2018. Under a contract with Soccer Canada binding it to the federation until 2028 – with an option to extend the agreement until 2037 – it is which receives all sponsorship and media rights revenue from the national teams. In exchange, it sends $3 million to the federation each year.
CSB is controlled by the team owners of the Canadian Premier Soccer League (CPL). Its purpose is therefore to help develop professional soccer in Canada. For many people, this is currently to the detriment of Canadian national teams, who no longer have enough money to operate, organize training camps or international matches.
At the time of signing the contract, Soccer Canada wanted to put all the chances on its side, with the United States and Mexico, to host the 2026 World Cup. FIFA demanded that a professional men’s soccer circuit be established in the country to give its approval.
The best equivalent of CSB can be found just south of our border. In the United States, until 2021, Soccer United Marketing (SUM) managed the marketing and communication rights of the American soccer federation. SUM was a subsidiary of MLS, as CSB is a subsidiary of PLC in Canada. The agreement was not renewed when it expired two years ago.
The exact reason is unknown, but there are some hypotheses. The main one is that the word “love” is a derivative of the French “l’oeuf”, an egg having the same shape as a zero. Another theory suggests that a player who has no points is playing “for the love of the game”. Since neither hypothesis has been proven, choose whichever works best for you!
