When Canada finally returned to the FIFA World Cup in Qatar with a narrow 1-0 loss to number two-ranked Belgium, it didn’t look like a team that lost an opportunity to play a key warm-up match.
Back in June, players staged a strike that scuttled a friendly against Panama, the replacement for the cancelled B.C. Place Stadium meeting with World Cup-bound Iran. The Canadian Soccer Association had not agreed to share the Qatar 2022 appearance money of at least $10 million. Players wanted 40% of the sum, travel, accommodation and tickets to Qatar for friends and family and pay equity for the women’s team. CSA president Nick Bontis dismissed the players’ demands as “untenable.
North Vancouver lawyer Ron Perrick represented the players the first time Canada qualified for the World Cup, at Mexico 1986. For him, history was repeating. “This tournament [in Qatar] will set the table for the next one, and a lot of these players will be around and then that'll give the incentive for a lot of other young players to want to get on that team and it should snowball in the right direction,” he said.
“We locked horns,” Perrick recalled. “I came to a deal and what we did is we shared it, and then each player was allowed to go out and get his own sponsorships, and he could retain the money for that. As a collective group, we would split the money up with that, and we would share with the CSA and they would share with us.”
“That caused a lot of excitement,” Perrick said. “By the time I got back to Vancouver, into my house, we had a deal. It was a good one for the players and when the Australian guys found out what the Canadian players were making, when they had the return match back in Australia, they went on strike. It was pretty funny actually.”
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