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International soccer players drop Women's World Cup turf legal action, but their language suggests they'll keep up this fight in the press

Andrew Bucholtz
American forward Abby Wambach was one of the players suing the CSA and FIFA over turf. That lawsuit has since been dropped. (Ennio Leanza, Keystone/AP.)
American forward Abby Wambach was one of the players suing the CSA and FIFA over turf. That lawsuit has since been dropped. (Ennio Leanza, Keystone/AP.)

The American-led group of international soccer players that took FIFA and the Canadian Soccer Association to court last October over alleged gender discrimination in the plans to use artificial turf at the 2015 Women's World Cup announced Wednesday that they've dropped their case. This wasn't an unexpected outcome, especially considering the strong defences made by the CSA and FIFA that high-quality turf is permissible at (and used for) both men's and women's competitions, and considering thata much stronger complaint of gender discrimination (the women's ski jumping lawsuit ahead of the 2010 Olympics) wound up with a court ruling that international sports organizations were beyond the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. This was always going to be a difficult case for the complainants to win in court, and the tight timeframe (the lawsuit was only launched eight months before the first games take place this June) made it even tougher for them. However, comments from the players involved and their lawyer suggest that there will still be plenty of complaints about the turf in the weeks and months ahead. The legal battle over turf is at an end, but the war of words is just beginning. From Reuters' Simon Evans:

Lawyer Hampton Dellinger accused FIFA and the Canadian Soccer Association of delaying tactics and making threats of suspension against the players.

"In the face of such irresponsible actions by FIFA and CSA, the players have elected to end their legal fight," Dellinger said in a statement. "The players are doing what FIFA and CSA have proven incapable of: putting the sport of football first."

United States national team striker Abby Wambach, one of those who had led the legal fight, said she hoped the case would bring about change in the future.

"I am hopeful that the players’ willingness to contest the unequal playing fields – and the tremendous public support we received during the effort – marks the start of even greater activism to ensure fair treatment when it comes to women’s sports," said the 2012 FIFA Women's Player of the Year.

Those are very strong statements from a side that's abandoning their legal action, suggesting that the discussion of this is anything but over despite the legal battle being resolved. It will be particularly interesting to see if the players involved bring forward any proof to corroborate Dellinger's accusations of "making threats of suspension"; if that can be corroborated, that certainly wouldn't reflect well on FIFA or the tournament. Wambach's comments also illustrate the continued determination of these players to paint this as discrimination, something it seems likely they'll keep doing in the lead-up to and during the tournament. However, the protestors' abandonment of their legal action means that the Women's World Cup can proceed as planned. The CSA will probably be quite happy with that, even if they're still likely to be vilified by these players in the months to come.