Now that they’ve won the World Cup – again! – the US Women soccer team will resume the fight for equal pay. The team’s stars – Becky Sauerbrunn, Allie Long, Crystal Dunn, and Julie Ertz – tell us EXCLUSIVELY why they refuse to give up.
Fresh off of winning their fourth FIFA Women’s World Cup, the United States Women’s National Team will now take on a much bigger opponent than France, Germany and the Netherlands: the US Soccer Federation. Ahead of the Women’s World Cup, the USWNT filed a class-action lawsuit against USSF over alleged gender-based pay discrimination. Now that the World Cup is over, the stars of the USWNT EXCLUSIVELY tell HollywoodLife that they’re ready to resume battling for equal rights and equal pay. “It’s definitely a message that our team is definitely not going to let die off,” USWNT center Becky Sauerbrunn told HollywoodLife at a reveal event for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare’s Multiplayer Universe.
“I think the support that we have garnered from the tournament, I have seen go all the way up into Congress,” Becky told HollywoodLife. “You can see that legislation is actually being pushed to the floor to talk about pay equity and to ask for pay equity. So, I think it is hard to ignore. I don’t think people are going to allow the message to fizzle out. I think, right now, it is such a potent issue and there is so much narrative around it. I think people just need to join the fight really and keep their voice heard.”
The USWNT also received support from Proctor & Gamble, the maker of Secret deodorant. The company took out a full-page ad in The New York Times to say it will donate $529,000 to the USWNT’s Player association. “We have been blown away from the overwhelming support as we proceed to get to a place of equal pay,” USWNT midfielder Allie Long, 31, told HollywoodLife EXCLUSIVELY. “As long as bigger companies help out in their own ways, I think that will be huge. Everyone has to make a big wave and what Secret did was so amazing.”
“To have companies follow in their footsteps would be very special. They have done so much for us and equal pay in general so far we just need to continue this pace and get equal pay for everybody, not just us! That will happen at one point!” Allie added.
In addition to taking on the USSF, the U.S. women will also take on a handful of opponents in what they’ve called the 2019 USWNT Victory Tour. The first of the five games takes place on Aug. 3, with the Americans facing the Republic of Ireland at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. This is the USA’s first game on American soil since winning the World Cup, and the fifth U.S. Women’s match at the famed arena (and the first in 17 years.)
“We haven’t been back to Pasadena since out national team played there in 99 and won,” midfielder Julie Ertz, 27, told HollywoodLife EXCLUSIVELY. “So there is a lot of history to the place. I think there will be a lot of history to this game and I think it is going to be a celebration. People are still riding that wave from the World Cup, they still have that high, so it is our first time being together since we parted ways after the tournament. I feel like it is just going to be just jubilant.”
“I feel like people should expect to take part in this historical moment,” U.S. Defender Crystal Dunn, 27, tells HollywoodLife EXCLUSIVELY. “We haven’t been back since 1999 and we all kind of didn’t really know that. We just knew in the last ten years, we hadn’t been back. I think it will actually be so historical… We have gotten so much support from the 99er’s so I think they will be super excited for us to be back in the Rose Bowl. For fans, it is going to be a great game, a great environment and celebration of us winning the World Cup.
“It is such an honor for all of us to share that greatness that we witnessed and that inspired out generation,” added Allie Long, “and knowing that what we are doing is inspiring the next generation. So, it is a full circle for us. It is going to be mental. It is going to be crazy! It is going to be incredible!