Category: Opinion

Making the Case: NWSL All-Star Match

Posted on by RJ Allen

In many ways, the National Women’s Soccer League has never looked better. With last season’s post-World Cup surge in attendance, the addition of a tenth team in the Orlando Pride, and player acquisitions like Lindsey Horan and Raquel Rodriguez (not to mention the return of fan favorite and big personality Natasha Kai), fans are eagerly awaiting the unprecedented fourth season of American women’s professional soccer. Should the USWNT do well at the Rio Olympics, it will only heighten interest in the league.

Which is why it could be the best time to introduce something many have been calling for since the league’s 2013 inception: an All-Star Match.

The lack of such a game, an institution in nearly every other major sport, has been puzzling. Both the first two incarnations of top-tier women’s professional soccer in this country, the WUSA and the WPS, held two All-Star games apiece with varying formats.

The first All-Star match took place in 2002 after the second WUSA season ended. Split into North versus South, the South won with an MVP performance from Abby Wambach in her rookie year with the Washington Freedom. The following year, in what ended up being WUSA’s final season, the All-Star match was moved to the middle of the season due to the 2003 Women’s World Cup, with a team of Americans falling to a team of WUSA internationals.

WPS’ inaugural All-Star match in 2009 presented yet another format. After the season ended, a team voted on by fans, media, coaches, and players hosted Swedish club Umeå IK. The American win featured a brace from Christine Sinclair. The 2010 All-Star match moved back to the middle of the season. With the same voting format as the previous year, top-voted players Wambach and ultimate winner Marta chose their teammates in the style of a pickup match.

The WPS did not hold an All-Star match in 2011, claiming most likely players would be away on National Team duty at the Women’s World Cup. And of course, the WPS would ultimately fold before the 2012 season.

With the lack of transparency that characterizes the NWSL, it is unlikely we will ever know if discussions of such an endeavor have taken place. However, one can hope that the league recognizes the benefits an All-Star match could bring.

The NWSL has struggled to create stars beyond National Team players, which is a problem given the amount of time those players are often away. If a fan is hard pressed to name a Houston Dash player other than Carli Lloyd, that fan is not likely to attend a match when Lloyd is called up for National Team duty. With the exception of perhaps the now-departed Ella Masar, the casual soccer fan simply does not know the Kim Littles, Kealia Ohais, and Sarah Hagens of the league.

An All-Star Match brings those players to light. With a lineup that could include Lauren Barnes and Arin Gilliland on the back line, Christine Nairn and Allie Long in the midfield, and Sofia Huerta and Beverly Yanez up top, anyone would be hard-pressed to deny the talent. The NWSL is often touted as a league with some of the best parity in the world, and nothing would demonstrate that level of play more than a field of the best twenty-two players.

Another advantage of bringing these top players together would be to create a prime scouting opportunity for Jill Ellis’ National Team. What better chance to see who deserves a call-up than seeing the best players from across the league play each other all in one game? Players like Crystal Dunn, Samantha Mewis, and Stephanie McCaffrey all earned first or repeat National Team looks based on their NWSL performance.

Finally, an All-Star match brings attention, and as an endeavor that is still fairly new, this league needs all the attention it can get. A televised, marketed game (no small feat in the world of women’s soccer) can create new fans as well as showing confidence in the league. A strong, confident league will stem the flow of young talent currently lost to early retirements and the allure of European leagues. It will also attract top international talent like Amandine Henry, further increasing the fan base.

Fresh off a World Cup win with the possibility of Rio gold on the horizon, professional women’s soccer has a chance to propel this momentum into something that will last. An All-Star match can only help, and after two failed leagues, the NWSL needs all the help it can get. But hey, the third time is the charm, right?

Just Pick an NWSL Team Already, I’m Begging You.

Posted on by RJ Allen

Hey all you new NWSL fans out there. Yeah you. I have a message for you.

Pick a team.

Pick an NWSL team and stick with them. For one whole season; just pick a team and stick with them. Even if they break your heart. Maybe especially if they break your heart.

Sports in America has a lot of do with pride. We take pride in our team when we slip on a hat or a jersey or a pair of sweat pants with their crest stamped on them. And the connection we have with that team is what keeps us from maybe losing interest in that team when there isn’t a World Cup or an Olympics to get our soccer juices flowing.

I know a lot of you just found the NWSL at the tail end of last season. You got high on the World Cup and you decided to log on to YouTube and watch those same players go head to head with each other. And suddenly you got to see some great match ups. Tobin Heath’s Thorns taking on Kelley O’Hara’s Sky Blue was a great match. So was Hope Solo’s Reign taking on Carli Lloyd’s Dash.

But if you want to keep the league going and healthy you can’t just be a fan of Tobin Heath or Hope Solo or Morgan Brian. You have to be a fan of the Thorns or the Reign or the Dash. You have to buy in to that team as more than one to four national team players. If you really want to support the league you have to buy in to one team even if your favorite national team  player is traded or gone for national team duty or out for a season due to pregnancy or injury.

Fan bases take time to grow. As year four of the NWSL gets ready to start it’s hard to really have the baked in relationship to one of the ten teams in the league unless you live in one of the cities. I get that. I live four hours away from three different teams so any home town pride for a team isn’t there for me.

That is why I present the following tips on how to pick an NWSL team.

1) Look at the team as more than a showcase for USWNT players.

Sure the Dash have Carli Lloyd who hit a hat trick in a World Cup final. But will that World Cup final moment and Carli Lloyd really be enough to keep you a fan of the Dash for more than 2 or 3 games? Most likely no.

So look at the team rosters. Look for other players that you might know. Watch past games and see what other players stand out to you. Try to find ones not on the national team that you really like. Try to find a team with a style that you enjoy watching.

2) It’s alright to be pissed off at your team.

I am a Reign fan. I make no bones about the team I support even if I try to take my bias out when I’m writing about the NWSL or another team. But no team in this league pisses me off like the Reign. Because they are my team. Because I invest time and energy and even money into them and sometimes they just let me down.

But you know what? If I team pisses you off that means you care. That means you are invested in them. And that is a great sign.

3) It’s alright to like players on other teams without it being your team.

One of the biggest problems I faced when trying to pick my team after finding the NWSL was feeling like if I picked one team it would cut me off from supporting other players I liked. And then I remembered the MLB and NFL where I have my team, the Red Sox and Packers respectively, and I still managed to like other players in those leagues.

Case in point, I am a huge Becky Sauerbrunn fan. She is one of my favorite 3 players in the world right now. And yet I am not an FCKC fan. I can want Sauerbrunn to do well, really well in fact, and still not call myself a fan of the team or support them. In fact I personally hope they end up at the bottom of the table. But that is the Reign fan in me coming out.

The bottom line is whatever team you pick is not as importuning as picking a team and sticking with them. And it’s ok to say that you’re a fan of one team but like another. I like the Chicago Red Stars a lot but they just aren’t my team.

Whichever team you pick for the upcoming NWSL season I want you to remember the most important rule. Portland sucks.

17 Reasons We Love Lori Chalupny

Posted on by RJ Allen

In honor of the Chicago Red Stars retiring the number of former captain Lori Chalupny this weekend, we have composed a list of 17 reasons as to why we love Lori Chalupny.

1) Her longevity. Chalupny has had a long soccer career with success on various levels: college, various professional leagues, and the U.S. national team.

2) Her 2003 National Championship with the University of North Carolina.

3) Her 2008 Olympic Gold Medal.

4) Her 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup championship.

5) The way she battled her way back from a struggle with concussions. Unable to play for the U.S. from 2009 to 2014 due to injury, she utilized league play (WPS/NWSL) and fought her way back onto the national team.

6) How, when she returned to the national team, she didn’t pull veteran rank over Tobin Heath for her original number 17 and just wore 16 instead. Total team player. (That’s ok, she’ll always be 17 to us.)

worldcupchup

7) She is Hope Solo’s favorite ‘Left Back of All Time’. She says so herself! She’s our favorite too.

8) When she played as a Red Star in the WPSL, WITHOUT PAY because she believed in growing the game.

frechups

9) She loves pizza like YOU love pizza. While at national team training camp in her hometown of St. Louis, Chalupny gave us a tour of IMO’s pizza and even shares a slice with teammates.

10) The way she is a St. Louis girl through and through. Look how she cringes putting on rival Cubs jersey (sorry Cubs fans).

chupscubs
Source – Chicago Red Stars Snapchat

11) You can’t knock civic pride, though. Look at all the joy on her face when she scores for her team in front of her hometown crowd.

12) The way she grew to love Chicago as her very own city.

Chichups

13) She will be the head coach for Maryville Women’s Soccer in 2018!

14) The way she could command and anchor a midfield.

15) The way she could defend and attack the left flank.

16) The way she represented the Red Stars crest and captain arm band with dignity and pride every single match.

chups17

17) The way her number will never be worn by another Red Stars player.

Honorable Mention: During a Red Stars segment of “KK Cam,” Chalupny accompanied then goalkeeper Karina LeBlanc and Zakiya Bywaters on a trip to a hair salon. While there, she had zero chill, expressing her fear of clippers and blades going near KK’s head.

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All of these reasons and more are why we miss seeing you out on the pitch, Chups. Thank you, Captain!

The Door Quietly Shuts for the Last 99er

Posted on by RJ Allen

For the first time since 2000 it looks as if there will be no member of the 1999 World Cup winning team representing the United States at the Olympics.

Christie Rampone ruled herself out of the latest USWNT camp, and with her the door moves ever closer to being shut on the famed team that found World Cup glory on American soil.

Rampone’s statement via US Soccer:

“I really appreciate Jill inviting me in, but at this time, I don’t feel one hundred percent healthy enough to train and compete at that level. I’ve been able to manage myself and contribute to Sky Blue this season, which I will continue to do, but I also have an understanding of the level of fitness and health needed to push for an Olympic roster spot and I know I’m not there right now. It’s not the right choice for myself or the team to put myself in that environment.”

The 99er’s were, for a very long time, the team that every other USWNT was compared to. Rampone served as the bridge between the 99ers and the 15ers, and she will surely be remembered as one of the very best defenders and captains the team has ever known. But with Rio all but out of the question, it looks as if Rampone is stepping through the door with the 99ers and shutting it softly behind her.

Rampone, then Christie Pearce, first trained with the United States women’s national team during her final year at Monmouth college. It was then she made the switch from goal-scoring forward to goal-stopping center back. On February 28, 1997 against Australia, Rampone entered her first international game. Unless she is called up post Rio, her last game for the USWNT will have been played on September 20, 2015.

Rampone is one of, if not, the most successful women’s soccer players in both US and international history. She is one of only eight Americans with two World Cup titles (all seven others won in 1991 and 1999). She has more Olympic medals than any other women’s soccer player in history, with a sliver in 2000 and golds in 2004, 2008, and 2012. Rampone was named USWNT captain in 2008 and remained captain until 2016 when Carli Lloyd and Becky Sauerbrunn jointly took over the post.

Famously, she led Sky Blue FC to a WPS championship as player/coach in 2009. Finishing the season with a coaching record of 4-1-0 in 5 games. Sky Blue will benefit from her leadership and play for the remainder of the season without call ups preventing her from staying with the team. And we will be treated to at least a dozen or so more games with her leading her team into battle.

There will never be another player quite like Christie Rampone. Her number 3 will never quite look the same on someone else’s back as it did on hers. She might never have reached the level of name recognition that Mia Hamm or Alex Morgan have. She was never as publicly outspoken as Abby Wambach. But Rampone was the heartbeat of the United States women’s national team for over half of its life. She was a leader—a force to be reckoned with on defense and a guiding force to players young and old. Stepping away on her own terms must be commended even if the taste left in many people’s mouths is bittersweet.

How to Pay the Amateurs

Posted on by RJ Allen

A lot has been written lately about if the amateur NWSL players should be paid, why they aren’t paid, and if the league or their clubs can afford to pay them.

Very little has been written about how these players should be paid and about what might be a reasonable agreement under which these players, who put in as much work as the players under contract, could be paid.

Every unallocated player (someone who is not being paid by the United States or Canadian federations) makes between $7,200 to $39,700 for the duration of the season, going from April to October. And while this is not a livable wage and needs to be raised if the league wants to retain talent, the amateurs aren’t paid at all. They are simply reimbursed for some, but not all, expenses.

Unllocated players, therefore, make between $360 and $1,985 a game, per their 20-game schedule.

Side note: USWNT players make $54,000 for the NWSL season, meaning $2,700 a game. Still too low, but much more reasonable than their solely NWSL counterparts.

If the NWSL keeps needing to use amateur players going forward, and they will always need to with a 20-person roster and a slough of both United States and Canadian national team players, they should be required to pay them. This pay should not count against the team’s NWSL salary cap (currently set at $278,000). 

This is the current NWSL language on amateurs:

An amateur Player is any person other than a professional Player.  An amateur Player may not receive or retain any remuneration for playing except expenses directly related to a game or games which have actually been incurred by the Player.

This is my proposal for paying amateur players:

An amateur Player is any person other than a professional Player.  An amateur Player will receive $200 each time they are listed in their club’s 18-person game-day roster. They may also receive remuneration for expenses directly related to a game or games which have been incurred by the Player.

The shoestring budget that some clubs operate on should be able to accommodate this modest pay for players putting on their uniforms to go out and try to score or defend goals in the club’s name. If they can’t, that has to be a sign that the ownership group might not be the right fit for the NWSL, going forward.

2015 and 2016 have seen teams having to often bring on amateur players because of the World Cup and Olympics. If the pay changes are put into effect in 2017, a non major year for the United States and Canada, fewer players will need to be called up. Too late to help out those who have already gone without pay, but a good time to implement a new policy and have two seasons to try it out on a smaller scale before the next World Cup year.

Pay the amateur players. It’s bad enough we call them amateur and not non-contract players. The least we can do is pay them. Maybe not what they are worth, but at least something. It’s the right thing to do.

A Conversation on Race and WoSo

Posted on by RJ Allen

RJ Allen:

So, Sandra and I are going to tackle a pretty big issue: race and WoSo.

Sandra would you like to let the people reading this know your background?

Sandra Herrera:

Yes. As far as my ethnicity, I have always identified as Mexican-American or, more recently in my adult years, as Latina or Latinx.

RJ Allen:

I am so white I sometimes glow in the dark.

Sandra Herrera:

Haha, that’s a cool skill to have sometimes.

RJ Allen:

I’m also from upstate New York. My county is, as of 2010, 94.97% white.

Sandra Herrera:

That’s a pretty high stat. I was born in south Chicago and currently live just outside of there. However, both community demographics are similar: about 75% Black 20% Hispanic.

Thanks, wiki.

RJ Allen:

So we come from pretty different backgrounds. A nice thing when talking about this, I think.

Let’s start off with something that, I think, we both agree on.

The USWNT and NWSL teams should not have a quota of players of color on their rosters. Which I’ve seen brought up by some fans as a way to diversify quickly.

Sandra Herrera:

Correct. Don’t get me wrong. I completely understand where some people are coming from, as far as people wanting to be able to see this sport represent the country that we live in today. That diversity is somewhat scarce when it comes to WoSo or to soccer in general, and we should try to find a way to remedy that. However, no I don’t agree with having a type of quota in place to achieve that. I feel like that’s unfair to young players of color currently trying to reach a higher plateau in women’s soccer.

RJ Allen:

I’ve been the token woman in a group of men for committees, and it’s hard enough there. On a soccer pitch, I can’t see it working out very well.

As someone who is white, it’s hard for me not to go with the “take the best no matter what race they are” stand. But then I think about the pay for play system and the resources, and it gets much trickier.

Sandra Herrera:

I mean, ultimately, I think at the end of the day, everybody wants to be judged on the merits of their character and on the basis of their talent. When you dig deeper into pay to play you start getting into things like race and classes and unfortunately those things are tied into money in this country.

RJ Allen:

I’ve heard it said that USSF isn’t racist, they are classist. But in this country, it’s the same thing.

Sandra Herrera:

Yeah, I think when it comes to race, it’s such a sensitive topic. So it’s hard for people to try and separate the two, but they are completely related.

No one is saying that poor white people and poor white families don’t exist, because they do. Unfortunately, the reality is that there are higher numbers of poor African-American families and poor Hispanic families.

RJ Allen:

I think women of color on the USWNT and NWSL are sort of damned if they do, and damned if they don’t. They are either treated with total kid gloves, or they are needlessly picked apart.

Sandra Herrera:

I think there’s a lot of pressure for players of color once they reach that level.

RJ Allen:

The kid gloves make it hard for people to take it seriously, because they can see the results with their own eyes. And the picking apart is just unneeded.

Sandra Herrera:

Yeah, for sure. There’s a lot of criticism either way, I think. Sometimes there can be a bit of a “remember who you’re representing” mentality in those situations. But at the end of the day, they are professionals and should be treated as such.

RJ Allen:

I do always find it funny who fans think of as women of color and who they don’t.

You know my favorite example of this.

Sandra Herrera:

Ha ha! Yeah, I do. Are you talking about Amy Rodriguez?

RJ Allen:

I am.

ARod has called herself a Latina, and her father’s parents came over from Cuba, but she is usually overlooked.

Sandra Herrera:

I love Amy Rodriguez.  I just want to be on record saying that, ha ha.

ARod has called herself Latina because it’s part of how she identifies herself as. She is a person in this country who has Latin roots, and I think she is proud of that. However, I get how she can be overlooked by some people.

She has blonde hair and very light skin. She can be referred to as what is called a “white-passing” Latinx person. So I actually think it’s kind of important and kind of cool that she honors her roots and her heritage.

RJ Allen:

It just makes me laugh because the people overlooking her are usually the ones talking about how the team doesn’t have many Latinas on it.

Sandra Herrera:

Let’s keep it real here. As of right now, I don’t think they do—unless I am forgetting somebody, ha ha.

Same thing with Stephanie Cox I feel like, once she got married, she got overlooked a lot as well because people just couldn’t recognize it without the Lopez name.

RJ Allen:

Speaking of much needed left backs on the USWNT…

(And the Reign.)

Sandra Herrera:

And that’s actually something that I really appreciate from Rodriguez. Because she’s been married happily and

has a family, and she understands the importance of that name on the back of the jersey. So I’ve always been happy that she’s kept it and represented it out on the pitch.

RJ Allen:

People skip over ARod because of how she looks, which doesn’t help with the whole thing of not judging people just on how they look and wanting diversity.

Sandra Herrera:

Bingo. It’s a pretty common thing, unfortunately, in the Latin community. We are one of the most diverse ethnic groups in this country and if you’re too pale or too dark you don’t fit the prototype.

But that’s a whole other topic. So, yeah, I miss Rodriguez, ha ha.

RJ Allen:

I do find it funny that people don’t know how to “classify” Christen Press. Speaking of not fitting a prototype.

Sandra Herrera:

I think that people just have a tendency to want to mold people into their own perceptions of what something or someone should be.

It sucks but that happens a lot.

RJ Allen:

I’ve heard people ask if she just has a really great tan.

Sandra Herrera:

I am laughing really hard right now. Yeah. That happens too.

RJ Allen:

Didn’t USWNT’s Twitter do that with Mal?

Sandra Herrera:

I think that people in general, not just athletes celebrities or famous people, have the right to identify themselves to the best way that they feel comfortable in their own skin.

RJ Allen:

She and Carli were “comparing tans”?

Sandra Herrera:

Oh man, yeah. I know that it was a completely harmless moment between two teammates. But the photo made me a little uncomfortable at first without knowing the context in which it was taken.

RJ Allen:

Yeah, the social media person was a bit clueless in that moment.

Sandra Herrera:

I can only speak from personal experience, but it made me uncomfortable because I, myself, am actually very fair skinned as well. I have had to have those conversations and talk about being a white-passing Latinx person in a white-privileged society.

Seeing the picture made me a little uncomfortable at first because I have had those moments with white friends of mine in the summertime who went out and got tans and were like, “Oh my God I’m darker than you!”.

RJ Allen:

I’ll admit I snorted when I first saw the photo, before I thought about the content.

Sandra Herrera:

Yeah, like those moments happen between friends of different ethnicities. They just do.

But there are people out there who maybe went to that place, like I did, when I first saw the photo.

But I don’t view it as some type of divisive thing between teammates, like at all. If anything, they probably were just a really comparing tans, ha ha.

RJ Allen:

How do you think the issue of having more diversity gets resolved?

If it’s even possible with how sports and USSF operate.

Sandra Herrera:

You know, I think it’s going to be pretty difficult. I like to sit here and think that it would be easy, but you’re talking about an infrastructure that’s been in place for decades.

You look at a sport like basketball, and you notice a difference in its beginning versus its present.

RJ Allen:

The pay for play has to go for it to have a shot at being fixed. But there are a lot of people getting a lot of money who would want to keep it in place.

Sandra Herrera:

Exactly. Youth soccer in this country has become a bit elitist, and that’s sad. When you go back in history and visit the teams that you fell in love with, and you can literally point at the few diverse players, that’s not something to hang your hat on.

What does that mean for the youth of this country who come from low economic backgrounds and live in urban areas who love soccer?

What does that tell them when they don’t see someone who looks like them or don’t see a last name that they can relate to? It tells them that they don’t belong there.

RJ Allen:

Seeing something helps kids believe they can do it too.

We talk about it with women’s sports all the time.

The reason that we want it on TV is to give girls a sign they can do it one day.

Sandra Herrera:

Yeah exactly. Visibility matters. Representation is important. The fact that there are people who actually want to debate that, is sad. I don’t think it should be a debate those things are important. Period.

RJ Allen:

Warning: I do not believe this, but I want you to smack it down, so I’m saying it anyway.

Sandra Herrera:

Ha ha, go for it!

RJ Allen:

Representation matters, but in sports, doesn’t winning matter more? Shouldn’t the USWNT, or any other team, pick blind to race and try to win, in the short and long term, over having a rainbow on their team?

Sandra Herrera:

Haha, I think that says more about the infrastructure that’s in place than anything.

RJ Allen:

Is that why other countries tend to be more diverse than the US?

Sandra Herrera:

Because they believe in scouting talent in urban areas?

RJ Allen:

I was going with their infrastructure allows for it. But yes.

Sandra Herrera:

Yeah, true. But I mean, you look at a guy like Messi and wonder where he would’ve ended up if HE came up through U.S. Soccer.

RJ Allen:

Knowing the coach? On the bench.

Sandra Herrera:

Oh, man. Quite possibly, yes. LOL

Or not even make the cut because he was too short.

RJ Allen:

Do you think the coaching staff being all white affects this?

Sandra Herrera:

That’s difficult to say. I want to believe that the coaching staff wants to change something like pay to play, but at the same tine, you don’t hear them being vocal about it.

RJ Allen:

WoSo seems to be—and I am saying this as a white person—a white person’s sport in terms of fans/media who covers it/coaching.

Sandra Herrera:

To be fair, there are a lot of you guys who are acknowledging that. So that helps. Sometimes you even give a platform for voices on these topics. So I thank Midfield Press for that.

I’d ask you the same question I guess, what do you think needs to be done to change it?

RJ Allen:

I think we need to change the youth system to include more women of color and I think it will change through sheer numbers.

If you have more 7-year-old girls of color playing, it would follow that you’d have more playing at 13 and 18 and 25, right?

Sandra Herrera:

True.

I get changing it at the bottom.

What about the top?

RJ Allen:

I don’t know. If I’m being honest. I do think there needs to be some rules for hiring coaches. Interviewing more women or people of color.

A Harvey Rule as it were.

Sandra Herrera:

I’d like to hear more people at the top talk about it, frankly. Acknowledging that it needs to be fixed from inside, at the top. Not just grassroots and at the bottom.

I don’t want to sit here and just be like it all boils down to race. Before anything I am just Sandra, and then comes everything else.

I think you brought up a good point about the coaching. For sure.

RJ Allen:

I think, in general, WoSo people (coaches and players) are usually scared of speaking out.

Sandra Herrera:

I think so too.

RJ Allen:

Woso is such a small world.

One wrong move, and you could be banished.

Sandra Herrera:

Yeah, that’s very true. Isn’t that, in itself, pretty elitist?

RJ Allen:

I think sports are in general. Women’s sports even more, yes.

Sandra Herrera:

In women’s sports, and, I’ll add, even more so if you’re a woman of color. 

RJ Allen:

Yes.

Sandra Herrera:

You know, I read this quote from Mindy Kaling, regarding Hollywood and the whole typical straight white male world that it is. But to be honest, it’s something that I’ve felt whenever I’ve gotten some sort of opportunity to better myself.

She says, “When you are a minority, and it’s the first time you’ve done something, you’re like, this could all be taken away from me.”

And that’s why I think it’s so important that we do have someone like Sydney Leroux writing her blogs.

That you have people like Crystal Dunn or Christen Press who are willing to answer my questions and speak on things like race.

Navigating this world of WoSo has been, at times, overwhelming for me, personally. You want to be authentic and true to yourself and to the sport without offending someone.

And that’s difficult when you start talking about things like race or pay to play.

RJ Allen:

Sometimes you have to offend people to make them either pay attention or look at what they thought was a given but wasn’t.

Though I do have some privilege to be able to do that without having racist things said to me.

Sandra Herrera:

It’s crazy sometimes, to think about your words offending someone and all you’re trying to do is speak your truth.

I imagine it’s even harder wanting to speak your truth but feeling like you cannot because of the type of spotlight you might be in.

It’s also discouraging. Real discouraging.

RJ Allen:

The NWSL marketing—we all have issues with it—but I’m sort of amazed that they haven’t marketed more to the Latina community, with the history of soccer love there.

Sandra Herrera:

Yeah, I’m fascinated by it really.

I think the marketing in NWSL is figuring itself out as the league grows too.

RJ Allen:

Not marketing to adults is an issue as well.

Sandra Herrera:

Absolutely.

I get marketing to youth. I do. It’s been done since, like, the beginning of time.

But the there have also been, like, two other leagues that folded. So, yeah.

To be honest, I’m not sure a league like NWSL knows how to market to the Latino community.

RJ Allen:

Any suggestions to help them out?

Sandra Herrera:

Don’t be afraid to incorporate Spanish media with your teams.

The Red Stars have a GREAT Spanish language webcast for their home games, I’m not sure if other teams do.

RJ Allen:

Chicago is the only team with a Spanish language webcast, as far as I know.

Sandra Herrera:

I’d say try to market around your Latin players, but I’m not sure if that would work for most teams, ha ha.

RJ Allen:

Any closing thoughts?

Sandra Herrera:

I think it’s easy for us, on the outside looking in, to talk about restructuring at the grassroots level—from the bottom up. However, I don’t think those at the top should be left off the hook. If you love this sport like you claim you do, you should start talking about it how to fix it. That includes people at the administrative level as well as coaches.

I feel like, at this point, it’s not enough to just think about what we could do at the community level.

They need to be held accountable and they need to make better decisions.

RJ Allen:

You can’t have change if no one at the top admits there is a problem.

Sandra Herrera:

Exactly.

Woso and the Media: The Good, The Bad, and the Fixable

Posted on by RJ Allen

RJ Allen:

I am RJ Allen and I am here with Chelsey Bush to have a conversation about a topic near and dear to our hearts.

Isn’t that right, Chelsey?

Chelsey Bush:

Very much so.

RJ Allen:

Today, we’re going to talk about women’s soccer media and about being a woman in women’s soccer and sports media.

Where to start? There is just so much.

Chelsey Bush:

Let’s talk a little about the difference between media coverage of women’s soccer and the coverage of men’s sports.

RJ Allen:   

That’s a very good place to start.

And quite frankly it’s not hard to spot the difference.

Chelsey Bush:

Differences, in the plural, I would say.

RJ Allen:

Yes, differences.

Let’s start with game commentary, shall we?

Chelsey Bush:

Sounds good.

RJ Allen: 

How many times in a USWNT match do we need to hear about the men’s game, either the MLS or USMNT?

Chelsey Bush:

Do we need to? Never. Do we? Every game.

RJ Allen:

I don’t understand it either. Maybe at a Dash game or Thorns game or Orlando game because the teams are connected. But it seems like every game.

Chelsey Bush:

Every one. MLS, Euros, Leicester City, USMNT, Copa … I could go on.

But they so very rarely mention the women during a men’s broadcast.

RJ Allen:

Even the USWNT at a USMNT game.

Which you think would be easy to work in.

Chelsey Bush:

And never the NWSL.

RJ Allen: 

A lot of USWNT games don’t even mention the NWSL.

Chelsey Bush: 

Right. I think they’re getting better at it, but still.

RJ Allen:

How hard is it to say “Seattle Reign’s Hope Solo will be started in goal tonight”?

Chelsey Bush:

Or when the game lulls a bit, talk about the club season a certain player is having. That’s something you hear often in MNT games.

RJ Allen:

Another thing I think they don’t often do—and this was really highlighted when for me when I heard the France vs Canada game, because they did do it—is no one wants to really call players out when they aren’t preforming.

Chelsey Bush: 

Oh, that’s a huge issue for me.

RJ Allen:

I know it is.

Chelsey Bush:

Both in broadcast and in print. The tendency is to rarely criticize the players or the coach until something goes wrong, i.e. a big loss.

They should be praised and criticized in equal measure, as the play demands.

RJ Allen:

It’s almost like they are worried if they go too negative it will undermine the whole thing.

Like an “I can’t call Alex Morgan out for diving or people are going to think all women dive” sort of thing.

Chelsey Bush:

That’s because women’s soccer is often viewed as a cause.

RJ Allen: 

Which is bullshit.

There is no other way to say it.

Chelsey Bush:

I mean, I do understand that you have to grow the game. We’re really lucky in the U.S., because there’s so much more support here than in many other countries. But even here you still have people—not just the general public, but even in the media—who don’t care about women’s sports in general and have no problem saying so.

But treating it with kid gloves undermines its legitimacy.

RJ Allen:

Which NWSL commentators do you think do the best job?

Putting you on the spot a little, but I’m okay with that.

Chelsey Bush: 

May be a bit homer of me, but you know I’m going with Matt Pedersen and Jen Cooper of the Dash.

RJ Allen:

Am I being a homer if I add Lesle Gallimore from the Reign, even though I live on the other side of the country?

Chelsey Bush: 

Yes, because it’s still your team. But I agree she does a great job.

RJ Allen: 

Being a coach helps, I think. She knows how to read the game in that way and call out players in a fair way.

And no one dares call out Hope Solo on a mistake like she does. Most just don’t mention it.

You know that makes me chuckle.

Chelsey Bush:

Yes.

RJ Allen:

What do you think needs to change in WoSo media to make it more on par with the men’s side, in terms of standards?

Chelsey Bush:

There’s so much to say on this.

Treat them as players first, for one. They’re there to do a job, so critique them as such.

And learn how to pronounce their names.

RJ Allen: 

Do you think that we’re too invested in their personalities and stories?

We, as in media.

We want to see them do well, so we hold back to spare their feelings or so others won’t “hate on” them?

Chelsey Bush:

There’s a tendency, yes.

Many people who cover women’s soccer were fans first (you and I included).

It’s hard to ignore that attachment to certain teams or players and view them as impartially as possible.

And to speak in a broader sense…

There’s a lot more access to women’s soccer than other sports. They sign autographs after every game, they meet fans; they utilize social media. They’re celebrities of a sort, but very approachable ones. All of this contributes to a sense that you know them on a personal level. And that adds to an investment in them as a person, not as a player.

RJ Allen: 

I often hear from fans when I talk about this player or that “well you just don’t like them.”

As if me liking them or not is why I am calling them out on this or that.

I am apparently a Rapinoe hater because I had questions about her being named to the Rio roster.

Writers aren’t stupid, we know by and large how fans feel and take that into account when we write.

Chelsey Bush:

For sure.

I know I’ve held my tongue at times because I just don’t want to deal with that sort of backlash. And that is a problem.

RJ Allen:

I’ve not written pieces because I’ve not wanted to deal with the backlash. Even if I feel the issues should be spoken about.

Chelsey Bush:

Here is where being a women comes into it as well.

There’s backlash on top of backlash.

RJ Allen:

It’s why I decided to write under RJ Allen. My “real” name is Rebecca Allen.

I didn’t want the first thing someone judged for to be that I’m a woman. So I adjusted my name slightly.

I go by Becca in everyday life.

Chelsey Bush:

And now you’re exposed.

But it’s important for women to cover women’s sports. To cover all sports, really.

RJ Allen:

I agree. I have talked to both male writers and male sports fans. And some things I don’t think they “get” about women or women’s sports.

Chelsey Bush:

It’s just a different perspective.

RJ Allen: 

It is. It’s not a bad thing, but it is a thing.

Chelsey Bush:

Take, for instance, a player coming back after a pregnancy. Normally I don’t like talk about personal lives, but it’s similar in ways to coming back from an injury, so I think it’s relevant. That’s a perspective Alexi Lalas can’t have, but Aly Wagner can.

RJ Allen:

And it is a factor in women’s sports. As FCKC found out.

Chelsey Bush:

It definitely is.

This isn’t to say that male media has no role in women’s sports, or vice versa. It should be equal across the board.

RJ Allen: 

I think both voices need to be at the table, and the best of both sides need to be heard, for sure.

Chelsey Bush:

The ultimate goal is equal coverage, in pretty much every sense of the word “equal.”

And that goes all the way back to where we started, which is the manner in which women’s soccer is covered.

RJ Allen: 

Why do you do this job?

As one of your bosses I can say you don’t get paid, the hours can be rough, and the benefits aren’t all that impressive.

Though I am a peach to work with.

Chelsey Bush:

So many reasons.

I love soccer, and I love writing. Why not combine the two?

I have opinions, often strong, that I need to get out. Anyone who follows me on Twitter knows that.

And I think there needs to be more coverage of women’s soccer, and I think sometimes I can provide a viewpoint that others don’t or won’t.

RJ Allen:

I always say that I do the job in hopes one day I am out of it.

I want to see the day were there are enough professionals covering it, ones who are paid, that I don’t feel the fear that if I don’t do it, it might not be done. Though, at this point, even if that happened, I’m not sure I could walk away.

The pay would be nice though.

Chelsey Bush:  

Yeah, I agree, but I’ll be selfish enough to admit that, by that time, I hope I’m good enough that I’m one of the professionals.

A dream.

RJ Allen: 

It’s that double-edged sword of wanting to do it but also wanted pros to handle it.

But the pros weren’t pros until they decided to become pros.

Chelsey Bush:

Yes, we all want it to become more professional.

RJ Allen:

One thing I think we should touch on is the professional bit.

We are both fans of clubs in the NWSL and of the USWNT, and we cover both of those things as media members.

What do you think of the fan/professional divide?

Chelsey Bush:

It’s hard because we are fans. And to be media, you have to suppress that fangirl side.

At my first game, as press, Becky Sauerbrunn brushed past me, and inwardly I was flipping, but I couldn’t do anything besides give her a smile.

You can be friendly with the players, but you can’t go asking for autographs or pictures. It’s not professional, and you’re there to do a job, just like they are.

RJ Allen:

I think you can support a team though. As long as you make that bias clear and you treat the teams fairly in your writing.

Chelsey Bush:

Yes, I agree.

RJ Allen:

Everyone knows at this point, I think, that you’re a Dash fan and I’m a combo Seattle and Sky Blue fan.

Chelsey Bush:

If you don’t know I’m Dash to the core, you don’t pay attention.

RJ Allen:

But that doesn’t mean I don’t call those clubs out when they need it.

Chelsey Bush:

Right.

In fact, sometimes I think I’m even harder on the Dash than other teams.

Because I’m more invested in them doing well.

And also because I know them better than other teams.

RJ Allen:

Some of the best writers in WoSo have a clear team they support. I think pretending you don’t when you do can just come off as theater.

Chelsey Bush:

Right, and there’s nothing wrong with having your team, so long as you treat them fairly. As we said earlier, praise and criticize as needed, based on the play.

RJ Allen:

Are you hopeful for the future of WoSo media?

Chelsey Bush: 

Very.

These women work just as hard as anyone else, and they’ve earned as much media coverage as anyone else. They’ve earned places on Sportscenter Top 10. They’ve earned headlines.

I want women’s soccer to continue to grow, and media is a big part of that.

RJ Allen:

Any final thoughts on the WoSo media or women in WoSo media?

I know you love to give a good sermon.

Chelsey Bush:

I just want to issue a challenge, ourselves included.

Tell the story the way it is. Accept the backlash, ignore the comments section, and say what you have to say. The legitimacy of WoSo is connected to the legitimacy of WoSo media, and we have a responsibility to do the best and the most that we can. Because right now, it’s still at the point where there’s not enough coverage.

RJ Allen:

I think that is a challenge worth taking. More than worth it.

You can catch Chelsey (and me) talking about women’s soccer every Monday at 8 p.m. eastern on The Midfield Report on YouTube and iTunes.

Defensive minded Red Stars: A preseason glance

Posted on by RJ Allen
Photo found at chicagoredstars.com
Photo found at chicagoredstars.com

“Defense wins championships…” It’s a quote coined by famed college coach Bear Bryant and has been echoed throughout various sports scenarios since it has been uttered into existence. In soccer, a strong back line and a goalkeeper who can demonstrate leadership of that back line is essential to a successful team. When the Chicago Red Stars announced their preseason roster it featured several defenders and goalkeepers. A mix of veterans, draftees, and invitees (trialists).

Last season, Chicago appeared to have a solid defensive foundation even during a World Cup cycle in which key defensive players were absent. 2015 saw goalkeepers Katrina Leblanc and Michele Dalton, along with defenders Julie Johnston and Michelle Lomnicki, among its core pieces.

However in the off season, the Red Stars were left with defensive holes in forms of retirement, expansion drafts, and trades. LeBlanc and Lomnicki announced their retirement. Taryn Hemmings was selected by Orlando Pride in the expansion draft (she later announced retirement). Abby Erceg was traded to WNY Flash in a deal involving Whitney Engen, who was later traded to Boston Breakers for United States National Women’s Team goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher.

Chicago’s 2016 NWSL draft class featured 4 defensive selections. 3 of those picks were called to the preseason roster. Notre Dame’s Katie Naughton, Depaul’s Sarah Gorden, and Northern Colorado’s Adrienne Jordan. All draftees are strong capable players of making the squad, and with all the changes, they can use this preseason to make their case.

In addition to a busy off season, the same day Chicago released their preseason roster they also announced Rachel Quon would not be returning to the Red Stars for the upcoming 2016 season. Quon, a key utility player, offered depth at various positions as defensive back and defensive midfield. Along with signing Alyssa Naeher, the Red Stars announced the signing of defender Casey Short. Short has ties with Chicago dating back to 2013 when they acquired her rights from Boston, however, due to injuries she was unable to play. She is coming off a successful season with Avaldsnes football club in Norway and is expected to make an impact for the team.

Chicago Red Stars Coach Rory Dames has been quoted saying she will provide options at outside back “…She will slide straight into one of our outside back spots and give us the attributes we look for in those spaces.”

Finally, a surprising pre-season roster move, second year Forward Cara Walls and veteran Midfielder Alyssa Mautz were listed as defenders on the roster. Their experience will be leaned on tested in these preseason games. Kassidy Brown, Madison Krauser, Jennifer Pelley, and Brianna Smallidge were invited as trialists. The preseason roster rounds out at 11 defenders and 4 goalkeepers.

GOALKEEPERS (4): Michele Dalton, Alyssa Naeher, Jennifer Pelley, Brianna Smallidge

DEFENDERS (11): Kassidy Brown, Arin Gilliland, Sarah Gorden, Samantha Johnson, Julie Johnston, Adrienne Jordan, Madison Krauser, Alyssa Mautz, Katie Naughton, Casey Short, Cara Walls

The Preseason is officially underway with a closed scrimmage having already taken place against Illinois State. Two more games will follow and are open and free to the public. April 3rd against Northwestern at 5pm and April 6th against Notre Dame at 6pm.

 

Terms of the Deal Were Not disclosed. Wait, why?

Posted on by RJ Allen

“Per league and club policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed.”

That sentence shows up in every story on NWSLSoccer.com about a player signing. Officially, no club  can create a page on their website that lists  what each of their players make. The only things we do know are that non-allocated players (players from the United States and Canada on their women’s national teams) are paid between $6,800 and $37,800 and that each team has a salary cap of $265,000. 

The National Women’s Hockey League (NWHL), which just finished its first season, took a different route. You can go to their website and find a page that lists the salary for each player. The 72 players on the 4 NWHL teams have what they make listed. From the 16 players making just $10,000 to Kelli Stack who makes a league-high $25,000. This isn’t to say the NWHL is perfect, but in this one area it’s already ahead of the NWSL. 

Yet, in the NWSL, it’s league and club policy not to give out any information of the terms of the player deals or how much they make off of those deals. 

And that’s not even getting at the impact that having such low salaries has on teams and players in the first place. 

To look at the impact that the $265,000 cap has on a team, we need to have some fun with math. Let’s look at the 18 player roster for Seattle from the 2015 Championship game and see what Laura Harvey, head coach and GM, might be paying her players. 

The roster: Hope Solo, Megan Rapinoe, Kendall Fletcher, Rachel Corsie, Lauren Barnes, Stephanie Cox, Elli Reed, Keelin Winters, Kim Little, Jessica Fishlock, Merritt Mathias, Katrine Veje, Beverly Yanez, Haley Kopmeyer ,Amber Brooks, Mariah Bullock, Danielle Foxhoven, and Kiersten Dallstream. 

First off, Solo and Rapinoe can be taken out of consideration, because they are United States allocated players. US Soccer plays them to play in the league. (About $55,000 according to the court documents in the law suit between US Soccer and the United States Women’s National Team.) 

For the moment, let’s assume that no other players outside of the 18 that dress for game day are getting paid, just to keep the math simple. Teams are allowed to carry up to 20 players even if not all teams do.

So, 16 players have to fit under a salary cap of $265,000. That would be $16,562.50 per player, if everyone on the roster was being paid evenly. But as we know, in the world of sports, things are rarely fair.

Out of the 16 non-allocated players, Seattle has two from the Scottish Women’s National Team, (Kim Little and Rachel Corsie), one from the Welsh Women’s National Team, (Jess Fishlock), and one from the Danish Women’s National Team, (Katrine Veje). Let’s say each of them made $30,000 each. They are good enough to be called on for international duty after all. 

What does that give us? Two allocated players (Solo and Rapinoe), four international players making $30,000 (Little, Corsie, Fishlock, and Veje) and the 12 remaining players making roughly $12,083.33 each, if we’re keeping the rest equal. 

But the 12 left wouldn’t be all paid equally. The starting XI would likely be getting more than a bench player, right? 

The starting XI: Solo, Fletcher, Corsie, Barnes, Cox, Winters, Little, Fishlock, Mathias, Rapinoe and Yanez. 

So let’s increase the rest of the starting XI (Fletcher, Barnes, Cox, Winters, Mathaias, and Yanez) to $20,000 each.

So now you have two allocated players (Solo and Rapinoe), four international players making $30,000 (Little, Corsie, Fishlock, and Veje), six starters making $20,000 (Fletcher, Barnes, Cox, Winters, Mathias and Yanez), and the six bench players making $4,166,66 each. 

That puts the bench players’ salaries under the league minimum. 

See how quickly that $265,000 goes? 

I can’t tell you, with 100% certainty, what the players on Seattle make (outside of Solo and Rapinoe), but I can tell you that some of the players make close to the league minimum. Not making that information known only serves to keep the public from seeing just how many of those players are closer to the $6,800 end of the spectrum than the $37,800 end. 

Releasing the players’ salaries would give the public a chance to see just what each team is doing with their $265,000. It will give fans a chance to call GMs out if they aren’t using the money wisely, just like every other sports league has their fans do. 

The NWSL making it to its fourth season is huge. But that doesn’t mean that fans and members of the media should give them a free pass. The only way the league will change for the better is by fans and the media pushing them in that direction. 

And push we shall.