
On Thursday, Mark Bosnich made some pretty flippant comments about the Matildas’ losing to the Newcastle Jets’ under 17’s team during a practice game.
He implied that their performance justifies the fact that they are paid so much less than the Socceroos.
“The Matildas, the next time they say they want to get paid like the Socceroos, I’d be bringing this up.”
Yes, the Matildas’ lost 7-0 to the young Jets.
Despite the fact that it was a practice game, with the purpose of trialing new plays (for which the Jets were told how to approach the match), Mark’s comments have turned this situation into another debate about: ‘Why men’s sports are better than women’s sports,’ and ‘Men are better at sports than women, so they shouldn’t be paid the same,’ which is basically: ‘Here’s another reason why gender inequality is valid.’
These things don’t really get to me anymore; after a while, it all becomes white noise.
But in this particular instance, it did, because I understand why Mark made those comments.
Like Mark Bosnich, I come from a Croatian family in Sydney’s South-West. My grandparents migrated to Australia to escape communist Yugoslavia of the early 1960s, as did thousands of their peers – including Mark’s family.
