The Australian women's national football team's two-match series in the U.S. against the Women's World Cup champions "has been called off as negotiations continue to stall over a new collective bargaining agreement," according to the AAP. The Professional Footballers' Australia said that "the tour was scrapped late on Wednesday afternoon following a meeting of Matildas players, a day after they had refused to show up at a Sydney practice session." PFA CEO Adam Vivian informed Football Federation Australia "of the players' decision immediately after the meeting." Vivian said, "The players are currently uncontracted and are under no obligation to participate in any Matildas-related activities." As a result, the players rejected FFA's proposal for the tour, "which would not have provided the requisite high-performance environment, failed to fairly remunerate them for the work they were being asked to undertake and provided them with no contractual certainty following the conclusion of the tour." Vivian said, "The offer from FFA was simply unacceptable. The players' stance will not change until a new agreement is reached" (AAP, 9/10). In Melbourne, Larissa Nicholson wrote the Matildas "have been threatened with losing their salary if they play for an overseas club, their representatives say." National team members get a base salary of approximately A$21,000 ($14,700) per annum, which the FFA has offered to increase to about A$23,000 ($16,100) and incrementally thereafter -- "but only for women who stay in Australia and play in the W-League domestic competition between national team commitments." The PFA said that under FFA's proposal, "if women play for an international club, as many of their male counterparts the Socceroos do, they could still get called up for the Matildas." But "they would miss out on a salary and earn only additional payments on offer," such as the base A$500 ($350) currently paid for an int'l match (THE AGE, 9/10).
