(Reuters) – The Canadian women’s soccer team took their dispute with their national association onto the pitch on Thursday by wearing purple jerseys with “Enough is Enough” written on the front ahead of their SheBelieves Cup opener against the United States.
The team’s protest is the latest escalation in their dispute with Canada Soccer over pay equity issues.
“Tonight, our players will be wearing purple as a symbol of protest,” said the Canadian Players Association in a statement.
“Considering the current circumstances, our players will continue to wear purple until our association has standard in place that ensure equal treatment and opportunity.”
The Canadians wore the purple t-shirts during warmups at Exploria Stadium in Orlando, Florida before changing into their traditional red kit but wearing purple tape on their wrists.
Purple has historically been associated with efforts to achieve gender equality.
Canada lost the match 2-0, with U.S. forward Mallory Swanson scoring both goals for the four-time world champions.
Swanson connected with a cross from Alex Morgan for a stunning finish in the seventh minute before slotting home in the 34th minute following a defensive mistake from Canada.
The Canadians will face Brazil on Sunday before taking on Japan three days later.
Olympic champions Canada had boycotted training last Saturday while demanding immediate changes but reversed course later that day as Canada Soccer called their strike unlawful and threatened legal action.
The squad said they would play under protest at the four-nation SheBelieves Cup, which also includes Japan and Brazil.
In a media call on Tuesday, the players said the “disgusting” discrepancy between the Canada men’s and women’s soccer programmes became obvious last year in Qatar, where Canada’s men made their first World Cup appearance in 37 years in November.
Canada Soccer spent $11 million on the men’s programme in 2021, and $5.1 million on the women.
Canada Soccer has said it has a “proven track record” of supporting the women’s game and that pay equity was “at the core” of ongoing player negotiations.
(Reporting by Steve Keating in Toronto, additional reporting by Manasi Pathak in Bengaluru, Editing by Peter Rutherford)
