Matildas star’s warning over A-Leagues pay row
George Clarke |
Ellie Carpenter has branded the ongoing pay dispute between the A-Leagues and its players “disappointing”, saying Australia’s domestic game had failed to capitalise on the success of the Women’s World Cup.
Carpenter is in Sydney this week as her club side Chelsea prepare to face the A-League Women All Stars at Allianz Stadium on Wednesday night.
Her presence on Australian shores comes at a time of great uncertainty for A-League Men and A-League Women.
AAP revealed last month that players had voted down two proposed collective bargaining agreements (CBA) put forward by the Australian Professional Leagues (APL).
The major sticking point is the ALW salary cap, which the APL offered to boost from $640,000 to $900,000 per season as it attempted to rekindle talks with Professional Footballers Australia (PFA) over a pay deal last week.
Players are also desperate for a seat at the table to shape the future of the A-Leagues and have expressed concern at the competitions’ direction since the clubs gained independence from Football Australia in 2020.
“It’s just disappointing to see where the league is at here now in Australia,” Carpenter said.
“Especially coming off the back of the World Cup in 2023 and the buzz here.
“I really think that we need to follow that and we need to invest more.
“I think we need to make the league here attractive to have some Matildas, including myself, come back and want to play in this league.
“It has so much potential to be such a competitive league and also a great pathway for the younger generation coming through.”
Nearly all the Matildas who took Australia to the semi-finals of the last World Cup made their names through the old W-League.
But at a time when Australia’s domestic game appears to be struggling, 26-year-old fullback Carpenter claims a return is less attractive.
“I don’t think that’s really on the cards, financially, for me to come back here,” Carpenter said.
“Hopefully that changes and ending my career in Australia will be possible.”
In a sign of how rapidly the women’s game had risen overseas, players are regularly being transferred for more than double the existing A-League Women salary cap.
Melbourne Victory defender Kayla Morrison, who will line up for the ALW All Stars on Wednesday, said: “I think we see a team like Chelsea and the league they play in and we have similar ambitions to that.
“It is kind of between the PFA and the A-Leagues at this point.
“But all we can do is go out there, play the best we can, bring as much attention to it, and show how seriously we take it and hope to follow in their footsteps.”
AAP