Football Confidential: Salary cap brawl looming
FFA and the players’ union worked together to bring about the Matildas pay deal, but a salary cap fight is looming.
A-League
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Officials from the players’ union and Football Federation Australia were full of kumbaya-style goodwill and happiness at the launch of the Matildas’ new pay deal this week, but knuckles are being cracked in readiness for a robust debate over the future of the salary cap.
Emboldened by his members overwhelmingly demanding an end to the cap, PFA boss John Didulica wants everything on the table when negotiations start over a new pay deal for the A-League, due by the end of June.
That will include the possibility of scrapping the cap – dubbed a restraint of trade – from next season, and at least one owner is aghast at the idea.
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More reasonable voices in clubland want to explore ideas like moving the visa players out of the cap, or adding extra “designated” players outside it.
Mind you, as one wag pointed out, some owners might be in favour of ditching the cap if it takes away the minimum amount they have to spend.
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WANDERERS coach Markus Babbel didn’t hold back when he got his long-promised tattoo, not-so-discreetly positioned on his inner forearm.
The German tells us the image is supposed to be an amalgamation of a lion to represent Bavaria, his home state in Germany, and the Wanderers’ crest, to show the similarities he sees between the two. Clearly Babbel had a lot of time to think about it on his way home to Germany at the end of last season.
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WE hear there’s an air of chirpiness at Wanderers HQ, where midfielder Pirmin Schwegler – described as the team’s conductor by teammates – has made an unexpectedly rapid recovery from a calf strain and is in line to face Western United on Saturday night.
Schwegler trained on Thursday and should travel south, though Mat Jurman is out.
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ONE Sydney reporter suffered from an unfortunate moment of gender confusion this week that had Sam Kerr stifling giggles on live television. Sunrise’s man at Bankwest Stadium got all the names spot on when he introduced Kerr, Steph Catley and Alanna Kennedy on Tuesday to promote the Matildas’ friendly series with Chile. The low point was the moment he referred to the star trio as “some of our highest-profile Socceroos”. Mat Ryan might have something to say about that.
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LUKE Brattan has been given a left-field nickname by his new Sydney FC teammates. We hear they’ve taken to calling the midfielder Shetland Pony. Something about his large, muscular legs and somewhat smaller torso. Nothing to do with the luscious mane.