Within minutes of the goal, the image was seen around
the world: Robin van Persie, playing in the Netherlands’ World Cup opener in
June, flying what seemed like dozens of feet above the ground, headfirst, to
score a goal against Spain. The Internet went berserk. Van Persie, the Flying
Dutchman. Van Persie as Superman. Van Persie, the newest Peter Pan.
Who will provide the van Persie moment of the Women’s
World Cup next year in Canada? United States forward Abby Wambach can tell you
who it won’t be.
“I’m not going in for a diving header like van Persie
did, no way,” she told me last week, which sounded weird coming from a player
known for such plays.
Her reasoning was simple. Performing a diving header
on a grass field is one thing; doing it on artificial turf — which, for the
first time, will be used for every field at next year’s women’s championship —
is something else altogether.
That is why Wambach and a host of other top players —
including Alex Morgan and Heather O’Reilly of the United States, and Nadine
Angerer of Germany, the 2013 player of the year — have been protesting the plan
to use artificial turf at the World Cup since it was announced. Recently they
took their protest up a notch, threatening legal action if the tournament isn’t
played on grass.
“It’s a gender issue through and through,” Wambach said,
pointing out that a top men’s competition like the World Cup or the Champions
League final has never been played on it.
“This being the pinnacle of our sport,” Wambach added,
“We feel like we should be treated just like the men.”
Last year, Wambach and other players signed a petition
urging FIFA and Canada’s soccer association to use grass fields at the
tournament. Nearly 4,000 people added their support by signing, too, including
more than 50 national-team players from 12 countries.
Nothing changed.
Now, with the tournament less than a year away, the
players say they are willing to take their fight to court if they must.
Late last month, their lawyers sent letters to FIFA
and the Cup’s Canadian organizers saying they would go to court if necessary if
those entities refused to change the fields to grass.
“Singling out this women’s tournament for substandard
treatment is a mistake that can and must be corrected,” the letter said.
The players have yet to receive a response to the
letter from FIFA or from Canada’s soccer association, which has said that its
initial proposal to FIFA included a plan to play on artificial turf and that
its fields will meet FIFA standards. Besides, the Canadians have said, other
top soccer tournaments have been held on some of the fields with no complaints,
including the U-20 Women’s World Cup being played in Canada this month.
Yet the group of players, led by Wambach, isn’t taking
no for an answer.
The players aren’t threatening to boycott the World
Cup if the issue isn’t remedied, said Hampton Dellinger, one of their lawyers.
But he stressed that they would keep pushing the issue if FIFA and organizers
continue to ignore them.
The fight here is not really about the downside of
artificial turf, of which there are many. The ball rolls faster and straighter
and bounces higher on turf than on grass, and sliding is a hazardous
proposition, since synthetic turf causes more friction than grass. As the
knees, elbows and chins of soccer players everywhere will divulge, the turf can
peel back layers of skin, and it may cause concussions because it tends to be
less forgiving than grass.
“There’s not a person on the planet that would prefer
playing on it, not even Sepp Blatter,” Wambach said, referring to the FIFA president,
who last week insisted artificial turf was the future of the sport (though
apparently not for men’s championships).
The real fight is about the world’s top soccer
tournament being played on an inferior surface. Sure, some Major League Soccer
teams play on it, even if stars like Thierry Henry avoid it. But there is
little question that fake grass changes the game, and there is no reason top
women’s players should have to endure it when men don’t.
To change plans now would require some money, for
sure, but FIFA was expected to make $2 billion off the World Cup in Brazil. It
seems improbable that the organization spent it all already. Why not shake
loose some change to allow the women to play on grass?
Let them muddy their faces and stain their shorts
green. Let them pick blades of grass out of their teeth. Let them dive
headfirst and celebrate the way they like.
For Wambach, celebrations usually mean a sprint to the
corner flag and a double knee slide in the grass.
But not on turf.
Those boundless joys at the World Cup, as it stands
now, are reserved for the men. FIFA has the time and the resources to change
that.
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