By David Owen
October 12 – Mia Hamm has added her voice to calls for FIFA to take steps to enable next year’s women’s World Cup in Canada to be played on a natural surface.
The former international striker, who retired in 2004 with a remarkable 275 United States caps and 158 goals to her name, said: “It’s their biggest tournament. I would love for them to play on natural grass.”
Interviewed in Monaco, Hamm, who was part of two US World Cup-winning squads besides winning two Olympic gold medals and one silver, said she understood why the stadiums designated to be used for the competition had artificial surfaces. “But for this tournament you hope, you know, FIFA potentially could invest in and figure out a safe and better alternative.”
She went on: “I totally understand why they have it in that area of the world…I get it. I just…this is an opportunity to hopefully you know FIFA steps in and does the right thing and this isn’t something worth talking about.”
Her comments come in the wake of a move by a group of leading players headed by the US’s Abby Wambach to sue FIFA and the Canadian Soccer Association over the matter, claiming gender discrimination. The players have filed a lawsuit at the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal in Toronto. They object to playing the tournament on artificial grass when their male counterparts have always played the World Cup on natural surfaces.
The women’s World Cup currently looks FIFA’s best bet for developing a second money-spinning sporting property capable of limiting its financial dependence on a single quadrennial event.
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