Chicago Red Stars forward Cheyna Matthews joined her teammates and penned a letter expressing their disappointment at the ‘subpar’ planning by the Jamaica Football Federation ahead of the World Cup.
Matthews posted the statement in a Twitter post.
“One of the greatest honors for a footballer is to represent your national team. Qualifying for a second World Cup is something most never imagined or thought possible for the Reggae Girlz,” the statement read. “At a time where we should be focused solely on preparing to compete on the world’s largest stage, we are unfortunately compelled to express our utmost disappointment with the Jamaica Football Federation.”
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The players have reportedly met with the federation to address their concerns and despite being told that those concerns would be addressed in a prompt manner, those issues remain.
“On multiple occasions, we have sat down with the federation to respectfully address concerns resulting from subpar planning, transportation, accommodations, training conditions, compensation, communication, nutrition, and accessibility to proper resources. We have also showed up repeatedly without receiving contractually agreed upon compensation.”
With the World Cup in Australia just over a month away, the concerns raised by the players of Jamaica’s national team, it serves as a reminder that despite the progress made in the women’s game, there is more to be done.
Jamaica isn’t the first national team to make public the lack of support from their federation.
The Canadian Women’s National Team were in a dispute with Canada Soccer for the better part of this year, fighting for equal pay and resources. While an agreement in principle had been reached, other issues have yet to be resolved.
Spain had a mutiny with 15 players refusing to play for the national team until manager Jorge Vilda stepped down. Closer to home, the U.S. Women’s National Team, like Canada, were also fighting for equal pay with a settlement reached last year.
The Jamaica Football Federation has yet to respond to the claim made in the statement.
The mother of one of Matthews’ teammates, Havana Solaun, has set up a fundraiser to help the Reggae Girlz.
Jamaica make their debut at the World Cup on July 23 when they take on France.