There’s been no little turmoil in the French, Spanish and Canadian camps during their journeys towards this summer’s World Cup. Players from the fifth, sixth and seventh ranked nations in the world, respectively, all taking a stand against their federations along the way.
As someone who was part of the Irish squad that took on the FAI back in 2017, very nervously contributing to the detailing of our grievances in Liberty Hall on that April day, it’s been of particular interest following these disputes.
Just to summarise them ...
Spain: Last September, 15 internationals made themselves unavailable for selection, their main issue appearing to be with coach Jorge Vilda. The federation stood by him and demanded that the players “admit their error and apologise” before they could be called up again. Last week, Vilda named just three of the 15 in his preliminary World Cup squad, the rest were either overlooked or chose to remain unavailable.
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France: In February, French captain Wendie Renard announced that she would not play at the World Cup, her relationship with coach Corinne Diacre believed to be the chief source of her discontent. She was supported by a number of team-mates. The following month, Diacre was sacked and Renard has returned to the squad, as have Eugenie Le Sommer and Amandine Henry who had previously fallen out with Diacre.
Canada: Also in February, the Canadian squad went on strike over pay equity issues and funding cuts that they said would hurt their preparations for the World Cup. Canada Soccer threatened to sue the players for “an illegal work stoppage”, so they reluctantly ended the strike. An interim deal on pay and funding was agreed, but the team, the reigning Olympic champions, will go into this World Cup without a single home game in the last year and having played just two games since February.
Of the three, the French have certainly come out the best and I would now expect them to have the biggest impact at this World Cup. They got their way in the end, they were stubborn, Diacre is gone, and in Hervé Renard, her successor, they have a coach with stature – his Saudi Arabian side created one of the World Cup’s biggest ever shocks when they beat Argentina in Qatar last November.
The Spanish ultimately failed because they didn’t show unity. Some of them bent and ended up sending emails basically asking if they could come back and play, while others, like Mapi Leon, Barcelona’s phenomenal centre back, wouldn’t back down. You’d have to admire her morals.
Unity was the Irish squad’s strength back in 2017. Once our captain Emma Byrne was involved, there was no way that we weren’t going to follow her lead. She was an icon in our eyes. And even though she probably had the least amount to risk, given that she was coming towards the end of her career, she was doing it for the betterment of future generations.
Looking back on it, the thing I’m most proud of was being a part of a group that had that much backbone. And the harder the FAI pushed against us, the deeper our resolve.
There was that letter from the FAI threatening our club and international futures, and phone calls at odd hours using similar wording. “You won’t play again.” And that was a very hard thing to hear when you’ve spent pretty much your whole childhood and early adult life working towards playing for your country. But we stuck together.
Since Ireland qualified for the World Cup, that 2017 stance has often been pointed to as the beginning of this team’s success. There is, I think, a small bit of correlation there, but not a direct one. That success is more due to the growing levels of participation through the years and the number of our players going professional. What we actually achieved from that strike was pretty minimal, but it started a chain reaction. The small wins led to a winding path of little successes that have built upon each other along the way.
And they were small wins. What we were looking for was so basic, we weren’t demanding huge investment or big payments. It was really about getting more training and being able to reach a level where we could compete – because we had a very good team. But we literally couldn’t get any better as a nation unless the conditions we were working under changed.
Afterwards, we all got a tracksuit pronto, the FAI weren’t going to hang around on that one
It just goes to show, the women’s game is very much at the mercy of those who hold the purse strings. That’s the way it was then, and, to a large extent, that’s the way it remains.
Tracksuits were the least of our worries, but that’s what the media and public picked up on because the image of us having to change out of them in airport cubicles just seemed so demeaning. Afterwards, we all got a tracksuit pronto, the FAI weren’t going to hang around on that one.
It was a strange time. I remember being at work and going on the radio, debating Noel King. I would have had Noel as my manager at Under-17 level and then he brought me into my first senior camp. It felt mad to be talking to him on national radio rather than in a dressingroom, to end up on opposite sides.
The FAI told us that by threatening a strike we were failing in our responsibilities to be role models. It turned out to be the opposite. What we did really struck a chord among women in other sports too and encouraged them to stand up for themselves. Before then, as a sportswoman you just got on with things, you didn’t want to be that girl who was moaning about something.
[ The Irish Times view on women’s soccer: breaking the barrierOpens in new window ]
So, yeah, unity was our strength. And because Spain lacked that in their dispute, I wonder about their dressingroom dynamic now. Even with the absentees, they’re still a hugely gifted side, but it’s hard to imagine the spirit in that camp being high.
Canada did have unity, but there are so many financial issues there – for the men’s team too – and they’ve played so little football in the build-up, they have to be doubting their own ability to repeat their Olympic form.
And there was such an opportunity there for them to capitalise on that Olympic success, instead they don’t even have a send-off game at home. We’ve got two – both sold out – in Tallaght. We need to learn a lesson from what’s happened in Canada – we can’t let it happen here, we need to build on this and push on after the World Cup.
I think of players like Louise Quinn, Niamh Fahey and Diane Caldwell who were in the Irish squad before me, and are still there. And by all accounts, things were even worse before I came in. It’s been some journey for those players, they could write a book. And it would have a very different beginning, middle and end.
