Members of the Australian women's football team are set to become "full-time professional athletes for the first time" after receiving an offer from Football Federation of Australia to provide contracted players with the national minimum annual wage, according to Dominic Bossi of the SYDNEY MORNING HERALD. The Matildas could now stand to "receive their greatest pay increase." The days of "balancing part-time jobs with full-time elite football demands may be over" after FFA offered the players a minimum base-salary of at least A$34,000 ($24,000) a year as a result of "recent collective bargaining agreement negotiations with the players' union, Professional Footballers Australia." FFA offered a "two-tier deal" to the players allowing about 10 of the best selected to earn a minimum salary of A$44,000 ($31,000) with the remaining half to be "guaranteed the minimum salary before match fees and other bonuses." The historic offer is a "major boost for Australia's elite female athletes" who knocked back FFA's initial proposal that would have "fallen well short of the Australian minimum salary." However, the players have "not yet accepted the terms of the new offer" after receiving the deal on Tuesday, with "outstanding terms yet to be agreed upon." One of the "biggest issues posing as a wedge between the players and the FFA" remains in clauses allowing contracted players to play in more lucrative leagues overseas instead of the 12-round W-League season. There are other clauses "relating to maternal leave and parental care to be agreed upon" (SMH, 9/29)
