On Friday, the Scottish Women’s National Team launched a legal challenge to demand the same treatment and pay as the Scottish Men’s National Team receive from the Scottish Football Association.

The SWNT players released a statement detailing the views of senior players such as Rachel Corsie, Caroline Weir and Erin Cuthbert as they laid out the grievances that have led them to mount an employment tribunal case – which will be fully funded by PFA Scotland - seeking a contract with the SFA to ‘ensure equal treatment and equality of payments between the male and female national sides.’

The SFA were quick to respond, laying out their side of the argument in their own statement and pointing to inaccuracies in the SWNT argument.

Here, we look at the positions of both parties in the latest disagreement between the SWNT and the SFA, following a row over the way tickets were sold for their matches at Hampden earlier in the year.

The SWNT position

"This is about all professional footballers being treated equally," SWNT captain Corsie said.

"After years of iniquity, disrespect, and in some cases abuse, we have a historic opportunity to advance equal pay and to promote equality for women and girls in football.

"This campaign is about parity, and we'll be seeking to engage with the Scottish Football Association, the fans, and everyone in Scotland's football community to deliver this long overdue change." 

Corsie, alongside other members of the SWNT playing squad, have long felt that despite improvements in the provision of resources dedicated to them by the SFA, that they are still treated as second-class citizens in comparison to their male counterparts.

There has been ongoing dialogue between the SWNT and the SFA on such issues since various members of the SWNT publicly criticised the governing body over ticketing arrangements for their game against Spain at Hampden in April, but the statement released on Friday indicates that the players now feel those discussions have reached an impasse.

"There is a significant number of examples where the players feel the resources in place are not where they should be,” Corsie told the BBC. “It's really important we make sure that doesn't continue." 

This latest public attack on the SFA from the SWNT has in part also been prompted by an agreement reached earlier this year between the US women's national team and US Soccer, where they secured a pay deal worth $24m plus bonuses, matching that of the men’s team.

The SWNT have also pointed to the Football Association of Ireland paying the same match appearance fee to both male and female players, and have urged the SFA to commit to following suit.

PFA Scotland have been representing the women’s team in their negotiations with the SFA since 2017, and while chief executive Fraser Wishart has described those talks as progressing ‘fairly amicably’, he added that the fundamental issue is this: "Should female players playing for the Scottish national team get the same as male players playing for the Sottish national team? We believe that in law they should and that is something that will be debated at the employment tribunal."

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The SFA position

Just as in April when the SWNT players went public with their criticism of the SFA over ticketing arrangements, there is some disappointment within the game’s governing body at the way this issue has been handled.

While acknowledging that the SWNT hasn’t in the past been given the same level of resource and prominence as the men’s team, the SFA pointed out in their own statement that in terms of being paid for their time and for commercial appearances, both the men’s and women’s teams have received the same remuneration for a number of years now.

“No national team player, whether men’s or women’s, is paid to play for their country or receive ‘appearance fees’,” their statement read.

“International representation is and should always be regarded as a privilege and not a job, a view that we believed to be shared by all. We do not consider such fees to be in the spirit of playing for your country. Our Men’s and Women’s squads receive a per diem rate for their time with the national team, which has been exactly the same since 2017.

“While other associations such as those named in the SWNT statement may choose to pay appearance fees, our men’s and women’s national team players are incentivised to qualify for major tournaments, from which the teams are paid the same percentage of prize money from the tournament organiser.

“The squads are further remunerated in lieu of contractual media and/or promotional appearances for our national teams’ sponsors. Again, the Scottish FA has ensured that men’s and women’s players are paid the same amount for appearances involving designated official national teams’ sponsors.”

Furthermore, while PFA Scotland chief executive Wishart has argued that the SWNT grievance has been in part fuelled by a failure on the SFA’s part to fully disclose what the men’s team are paid, the SFA argue that they already committed to guaranteeing equal pay for the SWNT months ago.

“As a result of ongoing dialogue, in September the Scottish FA sent a draft agreement to the SWNT’s advisers, which confirmed that all financial arrangements for the SWNT and SMNT would be the same – in addition to the existing equal payments for promotional appearances – but have to date received no substantive response,” their statement explained.

“Since the ticketing statement in April, there has been consistent dialogue between the SWNT senior players and senior members of the Scottish FA to ensure in-camp provision is appropriate for the SWNT players. No issues have been raised that have not been dealt with in that regard.”

What’s next?

The sole point of disparity in payment between the SMNT and SWNT is through the amount of money they receive as a percentage of tournament prize money. While both teams receive the same percentage of such revenue, the sums of prize money paid out by the tournament organisers varies between the men’s and the women’s game.

The SWNT feel though that this fight comes down to the way that women are treated in Scottish football, seeing it as an issue of respect. The SFA, for their part, feel that huge progress has been made already in the way that the SWNT is resourced, and that they are now treated in exactly the same manner as their male counterparts.

What is unusual in this conflict is that both parties ultimately want the same thing, and it would be no surprise to see the contractual agreement legally ensuring equality for the SWNT – something the SFA argue is already on the table – finally being signed and sealed in the near future.