UWS league New York Surf will serve as official Sky Blue amateur reserve team: http://www.uwssoccer.com/news_article/show/785776?referrer_id=2294922
http://www.wralsportsfan.com/soccer/asset_gallery/15514282/ WRAL's Neil Morris (Raleigh, NC) has a podcast. I just listened to his interviews of Jess McDonald and Lynn Williams. I enjoyed both. He induces them to talk plainly and frankly about their journeys, their families, their motivations, and aspirations. His questions did not lend themselves to athlete-speak cliché responses. He also interviewed Paul Riley, but I haven't listened to that one yet. To me these are the player’s stories and the fact they were on the Flash and now NC Courage is not central to the conversations; so I thought I would share here.
As far as I can tell, only one undrafted rookie has appeared in matches this year: Meghan Cox for Portland. Anybody else?
So the USWNT will play their tournament on the west coast starting July 27th. How will this affect games on July 22nd? Will USWNT players be available that date? Red Stars play Orlando in Chicago that day and if no USWNT players will be there and no Marta it will be a marketing catastrophe, IMO. That is one game I circled as a good attendance game. http://www.ussoccer.com/stories/201...an-seattle-san-diego-la-tournament-of-nations
Teams would not be required to release players, per FIFA regulations. But that doesn't mean the USWNT couldn't ask for them before that. And the "contract" players aren't under contract to the teams, so -for those players- it's not really up to the teams to decide. Lynn Williams and Sam Mewis will go whereever and whenever the USWNT wants them, but as Jessica McDonald is under contract to the NC Courage (or NWSL?), they would not have to release her. I'll have to look the rules up, but I think it's 72 hours prior to the window unless an ocean is involved, then it's 96 hours. Let me check. EDIT: 48 hours https://resources.fifa.com/mm/document/affederation/administration/ps_792_en-annex_ii_74.pdf
Since 1) they're friendlies and 2) the USWNT doesn't play a meaningful game for a year and a half, and 3) USSF has a vested interest in the success of the NWSL one would hope that they wouldn't pull the national team players out early. Then again, one would also think that pulling out the national teamers for friendlies DURING THE NWSL PLAYOFFS wasn't a particularly smart move. But then, it's not my money.
The Disciplinary Committee has suspended Merritt Mathias 3 games for her actions against Emily Sonnett in last week's Portland/Seattle match.
You gonna keep bringing that up aren't you? I still think in the last year or two they have done a really good job of not disrupting the NWSL. That in conjunction with what the players themselves have said as well as Ellis, I do not think players would be missing games that weekend.
WE HAVE A PLAYERS' ASSOCIATION NOW [FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE] NWSL Non-Allocated Players Announce the Formation of a Players Association pic.twitter.com/ctENUDTtyC— NWSLPA (@nwsl_players) May 15, 2017
There doesn't seem to be a webpage for the NWSLPA yet, but I saw that Roccaro, Zerboni, Maddy Evans, Moros, and even Scott Vallow and Barnie all already follow that Twitter account, so I'm assuming it's legit. Makes sense that it's finally happened after the minimum salary was raised so much... I remember reading that one of the big reasons an NWSLPA hadn't formed previously was that you need capital to start a union up, and when the players who need that union are making under #8k/season, there really isn't that capital to spare.
As a former union organizer and board member (IATSE), that's not always true. Especially when looking to unionize a group of workers with natural allies (other professional athletes in this case). The original MLS players' union (MLSPA) was funded by the NFLPA. It's not uncommon for even relatively unrelated (on the surface) unions to offer financial and materiel (office space, legal help, supplies) to a union or local that is trying to get off of the ground. I've always taken the delay to be the more transitory nature of the potential union members, and the segregation of the national team players from the rank and file. I still see that as a troubling issue that'll eventually come to a boil. Maybe not for a long time, but eventually. And I see this union is wisely looking to represent the interests of the amateur and practice players. Like the early MLS CBAs, there main issues will be more quality of life issues than structural league issues. Minimum salaries, per diems, minimum travel standards (Holiday Inn Express, not Motel 6), guarantees of continued coverage for injured players, year-round insurance for most/all players. These are the sorts of things that will affect 80-90% of the membership. Secondary concerns will be moving costs for players who are traded/re-assigned, as well as players who are cut (a plane ride home would be nice!). Raising the cap and things fans and media like to talk about affect few players at all - and with the separation of the national teammers from the NWSL rank and file, that's even less of an issue. A more likely reason for a lack of a players union has more to do with the fact that the jobs are all replacement level jobs. The "keepers" are mostly covered by the USWNTPA (and CSA/FMF contracts). The McCall Zerbonis are the exception on NWSL rosters. Mid-career players have been growing in numbers. Earlier in the NWSL, most of the non-national teamers could've just been released and a new batch of NCAA rookies hired. That does tie into the minimum salary going up - more players can afford to put off the inevitable (getting a real job) longer, but the issue is less getting dues from the membership and more to do with an increasing number of players with a stake in their continued quality of life.
I mean, of course there is no one declared reason for why a union might not be starting up. But it wasn't dues I was talking about - it was all the actual start-up costs and such. It certainly would've been nice if some other league or union had helped an NWSLPA form earlier that now, (or still nice if this new development did have outside support, though from the opening statement it sounds like it's 100% players,) but even the leagues or unions that might be friendly to WoSo aren't exactly rolling in cash either. The NFLPA helping jumpstart the MLSPA makes sense since there was still a fair amount of stadium and ownership overlap back then... (Not to mention the whole single-entity-structure lawsuit.) NWSL doesn't really have that except with MLS, and there hasn't been any outward signs of of MLS or the MLSPA trying to take a direct, top-down hand in helping NWSL develop. I specifically remember the start-up costs (not dues) being mentioned in what I read last year, which IIRC was a player blog or something very similar, so pretty good source material. As someone with union experience, I assume you know the start-up costs better than most, so you could probably speak to that more, but that's what I remember the player mentioning. I just hope we get more details about the NWSLPA soon (like a website); would be great to hear if someone actually stepped in to help make it happen.
Looks like what Yael has been working on according to some tweets thanking her. I hope when she retires she somehow continues on with NWSL head office or if the league grows enough for the NWSLPA to be an actual full time job for her.
I would hope the NWSLPA would work with/against the USWNTPA to hit up the USSF for a different structure.
"When you're up to your ass in alligators, it's hard to remember that your original intention was to drain the swamp". Or more bluntly, when you're concerned about members of your union being on food stamps in the off-season, issues like "league structure" are somehow not a priority.
It's been a long time coming. The first order of business is simply to organize communications. I've talked with players and heard Jeff Plush was responsive but also deluged -- it's a small front office, so hearing from a bunch of individual players took up a lot of time. This gives them a chance to have more formal and cohesive lines of communication.
BREAKING: Houston Dash have fired head coach Randy Waldrum after 19-39-13 record over 3+ seasons #NWSL— Dan Lauletta (@TheDanLauletta) May 29, 2017
Im of a couple of minds. No he wasn't doing a good job and yes he'd certainly had a fair amount of time to show he could coach a pro team. And yes Houston couldn't afford to just piss away another season hoping for the best. On the other side, I would have liked to have seen him get a run of games with the full team. Lloyd is constantly away on assignment. Brian is hurt more than not when she is here. He gets Andressa back and loses Benitez. Oh well...it's not to be.
Yeah, but you have to compare what he's accomplished with injuries to what Parsons has accomplished with the Thorns with Heath, Reynolds,, and Brynarsdottir out the entire season so far, Klingenberg out for a number of games, Shim out for a number of games, and Morris and Johnson working on getting back into form from very serious injuries.
Didn't know where else to post this. I will be at the Orlando Pride vs. Chicago Red Stars game in Orlando on July 1. If anyone here is going to be at that game, if you want, send me a PM and we can meet and say Hi. I enjoy meeting other NWSL fans.
Fun little roster comparison between NWSL and the four top European WoSo leagues: http://www.football-observatory.com/IMG/sites/mr/mr26/en/