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CUL,ur= full-time professionals. Again, this appears to be a bold move in support of the women’s game. But while the restructure favoured some clubs, it had a severe downside for others. Doncaster Belles, possibly the best-known women’s club in England, could not afford the FA’s licence requirements and will now play their football in the third tier. On closer inspection, it becomes clear that the FA is prioritising club finances over established structures when it comes to league status. Again, this not only raises issues of inequality in terms of investment in the game, but also questions of football early to survive, or to start a family. Maternity and childcare were pressing concerns. The study found that only 8 per cent of players received paid maternity leave and 61 per cent did not get any childcare support – another factor for leaving the industry early. The statistics also show general uncertainty regarding job security, with the average contract length only 12 months – and 47 per cent of those surveyed had no employment contract at all. This year, the Telegraph revealed 88 per cent of players in the Women’s Super League will earn under £18,000 per year and more Developments in women’s football have been both rapid and radical than half of the new competition’s players are considering quitting for financial reasons. The US women’s national team (USWNT), the most successful international team of all time and currently ranked number 1 by FIFA, provides a recent and striking sustainability and elitism – taking a step towards mirroring the morally devoid men’s professional game, as some would say. In 2017, FIFPro (the international players’ union) published a report on working conditions of 3,500 women footballers across the world. The data was extensive and covered issues such as salary, prize money, childcare and discrimination. The survey highlighted labour discrimination experienced by professional women footballers and how far we are from gender parity. The report was striking. Fifty per cent of players surveyed received no salary, while two-thirds of those who did received less than £500 per month. Due to low financial rewards, 30 per cent of players supplemented their football career with another job and 90 per cent reported that they may have to quit example of the hard-fought battle for gender equality in football. The US governing body, US Soccer, employs both the men and women’s team members, but on different structures that result in women receiving significantly less in terms of bonuses, per diems, sponsorship and appearance fees. In 2016, USWNT members filed a complaint of ‘equal pay for equal work’, on the basis that they were much more successful than their male counterparts. The agreement they reached with US Soccer still sees them being paid less, despite bringing in over $20 million in annual revenues – a clear example of discrimination in the labour market. Their action prompted women players in Ireland, Australia, Nigeria, Denmark and Scotland to collectively bargain for greater pay. In 2017, the Norwegian FA announced it would pay its men’s and women’s teams the same, in part to prevent women players from retiring early. Due to financial insecurity, players regularly move clubs. The contracts in the FA Women’s Super League are short, ranging from one to three years, and levels of professionalism vary considerably between clubs. Although it would be easy to compare the contract length of elite men footballers with elite women footballers, to do that would overlook the fact that male players are more economically secure from a young age. Work dilemmas The players I interviewed faced dilemmas at work: limited economic remuneration, delimited career prospects and their professionalism constantly at stake. They fear losing their professional status and regard themselves as fortunate to be playing – accepting unsatisfactory work conditions as a result. Pressure to succeed is immense, as success is often a determining factor for financial and fan support at historically men’s clubs. As one senior international explained, achieving a bronze World Cup medal is a minimal expectation for recognition in the women’s game. The new realities faced by professional women footballers are complex and contradictory. Conditions and expectations do continue to improve, but do not appear balanced from a player’s perspective. Increased opportunities for women to play professionally do not address gendered culture, power imbalances or lack of resources. As the game continues to grow, there must be a shift from bolton policies and expectations from the men’s game to an emphasis on understanding women footballers as a separate entity if we are to provide the financial, social and emotional support they need. Alex Culvin is a former professional footballer in the Women’s Super League, now a PhD student 72 RED PEPPER Autumn 2018
page 73
Against modern football ANDREW HODGES looks at fan activism and organising in the home of World Cup finalists Croatia – a powerful, politicised and unpredictable movement that sees the left locked in constant battle with the far right When Croatia, a small country of around four million people, defeated England in the football World Cup semi-finals this summer, the streets of the capital Zagreb came alive with flags, flares and spontaneous parties. Discussions began on how to celebrate the team’s talent and success, including the prospect of a new national stadium. The president Kolinda Grabar Kitarović’s World Cup presence attracted particular attention, including her private purchase of economy class flights and tickets to several matches and umbrellaless congratulation of the players in the torrential rain after their defeat in the final – all presumed to be a prelude to her campaign for re-election on a populist ticket. The team’s heroes’ return was however marked – and in many eyes, marred – by the appearance of Thompson, a controversial heavy-metal singer with far-right nationalist sympathies. A fighter during the 1990s wars, he takes his name (and that of his band) from the Thompson submachine gun. Many of these political dimensions to Croatia’s World Cup exploits relate to themes that constantly resurface in discussions of the regional fan scene, such as the growth of right-wing populism and the adoption of far-right symbols. Football fans in Croatia regularly come under the media spotlight over occurrences of fan violence and disorder and the appearance of swastikas, and other symbols and chants associated with the Ustaše Nazi puppet state established in parts of Croatia during the second world war. Perhaps the best-known example internationally was the marking of a large swastika onto the Poljud Hajduk Split pitch with chemicals shortly before a European qualifier in 2016. Mainstream reporting from outside the Balkans often emphasises such incidents as evidence of ethnic hatred on a scale beyond that present in other parts of Europe, painting the region as the primitive ‘other’ of Europe in much the same way that football fans are often unfairly portrayed as uniformly racist, sexist and homophobic. But these crude stereotypes ignore the more nuanced and varied nature of Croatian ‘fandom’ and the effects of the economic crisis that has hit the region so hard in recent years. A focus only on such symbolic aspects – easily commented on from a distance – draws attention away from everyday fan practices and engagements, and the battles they have waged against ‘crony capitalist’ and establishment figures in Croatia. These politicised fan engagements are particularly important given that fans have organised protests on a larger scale than any trade union demonstration in Croatia to date. Nationalist politics Croatia became an independent state in 1991, when it seceded from Yugoslavia. A four-year war with many deaths and many more refugees ensued, with President Franjo Tuđman and his nationalist political party, the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), taking power and promoting authoritarian nationalist politics, including in sport. Shortly after Tuđman’s death in 1999, the opposition Social Democratic Party came to power and the first years of the new millennium were marked by talk of ‘democratisation’ and Croatia’s EU accession. The Social Democrats RED PEPPER Autumn 2018 73

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full-time professionals. Again, this appears to be a bold move in support of the women’s game. But while the restructure favoured some clubs, it had a severe downside for others. Doncaster Belles, possibly the best-known women’s club in England, could not afford the FA’s licence requirements and will now play their football in the third tier. On closer inspection, it becomes clear that the FA is prioritising club finances over established structures when it comes to league status. Again, this not only raises issues of inequality in terms of investment in the game, but also questions of football early to survive, or to start a family. Maternity and childcare were pressing concerns. The study found that only 8 per cent of players received paid maternity leave and 61 per cent did not get any childcare support – another factor for leaving the industry early. The statistics also show general uncertainty regarding job security, with the average contract length only 12 months – and 47 per cent of those surveyed had no employment contract at all. This year, the Telegraph revealed 88 per cent of players in the Women’s Super League will earn under £18,000 per year and more

Developments in women’s football have been both rapid and radical than half of the new competition’s players are considering quitting for financial reasons.

The US women’s national team (USWNT), the most successful international team of all time and currently ranked number 1 by FIFA, provides a recent and striking sustainability and elitism – taking a step towards mirroring the morally devoid men’s professional game, as some would say.

In 2017, FIFPro (the international players’ union) published a report on working conditions of 3,500 women footballers across the world. The data was extensive and covered issues such as salary, prize money, childcare and discrimination. The survey highlighted labour discrimination experienced by professional women footballers and how far we are from gender parity. The report was striking. Fifty per cent of players surveyed received no salary, while two-thirds of those who did received less than £500 per month. Due to low financial rewards, 30 per cent of players supplemented their football career with another job and 90 per cent reported that they may have to quit example of the hard-fought battle for gender equality in football. The US governing body, US Soccer, employs both the men and women’s team members, but on different structures that result in women receiving significantly less in terms of bonuses, per diems, sponsorship and appearance fees.

In 2016, USWNT members filed a complaint of ‘equal pay for equal work’, on the basis that they were much more successful than their male counterparts. The agreement they reached with US Soccer still sees them being paid less, despite bringing in over $20 million in annual revenues – a clear example of discrimination in the labour market. Their action prompted women players in Ireland, Australia, Nigeria, Denmark and Scotland to collectively bargain for greater pay. In 2017, the Norwegian FA announced it would pay its men’s and women’s teams the same, in part to prevent women players from retiring early.

Due to financial insecurity, players regularly move clubs. The contracts in the FA Women’s Super League are short, ranging from one to three years, and levels of professionalism vary considerably between clubs. Although it would be easy to compare the contract length of elite men footballers with elite women footballers, to do that would overlook the fact that male players are more economically secure from a young age. Work dilemmas The players I interviewed faced dilemmas at work: limited economic remuneration, delimited career prospects and their professionalism constantly at stake. They fear losing their professional status and regard themselves as fortunate to be playing – accepting unsatisfactory work conditions as a result. Pressure to succeed is immense, as success is often a determining factor for financial and fan support at historically men’s clubs. As one senior international explained, achieving a bronze World Cup medal is a minimal expectation for recognition in the women’s game.

The new realities faced by professional women footballers are complex and contradictory. Conditions and expectations do continue to improve, but do not appear balanced from a player’s perspective. Increased opportunities for women to play professionally do not address gendered culture, power imbalances or lack of resources. As the game continues to grow, there must be a shift from bolton policies and expectations from the men’s game to an emphasis on understanding women footballers as a separate entity if we are to provide the financial, social and emotional support they need.

Alex Culvin is a former professional footballer in the Women’s Super League, now a PhD student

72 RED PEPPER Autumn 2018

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