Scotland women’s national football team have launched legal action against the Scottish FA after talks over equal pay and conditions broke down.
The team are now ready to take their case to an employment tribunal, marking a major milestone in the ongoing disputes.
The players, spearheaded by captain and Aston Villa defender Rachel Corsie, believe the disparities between their treatment and that of their male counterparts is due for a significant overhaul and have called on the Scottish Football Association to capitalise on a historic opportunity to ensure commensurate treatment for both teams as interest in women's football surges.
"This is about all professional footballers being treated equally," Corsie said.
The 33-year-old added: "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."
High profile teammates Caroline Weir and Erin Cuthbert also voiced their concerns over an imbalance in funding from commercial deals.
"For so many years we've felt an after-thought, and whilst we have seen growth it's come as a result of driving our own change," said Real Madrid's Weir, capped 93 times by Scotland.
"Payments from sponsorship deals overwhelmingly go to the men's game, and to male players. In our current society, this is one example of the outdated prejudice towards one group of players.
"If shared out equally, there would be a dramatic increase in funding for women's and girls' football at all levels that would be transformative."
Chelsea's Cuthbert added: "This campaign must be the start of an irreversible turning point to forever change our national game, and the way women players are treated.
"It's about advancing and achieving equality in Scottish football."
The fight for equal pay and treatment across senior national teams has gripped a number of national football association s over the years, with the most noteworthy being the more than six-year campaign and eventual lawsuit ensconcing the USWNT that ended this May in a landmark decision that guaranteed equal pay for national appearances.
The deal also included a novel and arguably more lucrative provision that unequal prize money payments received by U.S. Soccer would be pooled together and split evenly between the squads, seeing the USWNT’s accrue nearly £9m from this year’s World Cup in Qatar where the USMNT reached the knockout stages.
Corsie and her teammates would like the SFA to take similar action in regards to equal match appearances fees, as the Football Association of Ireland has done.
Corsie has reportedly been in dialogue with SFA chief executive since the beginning of this year, following an incident in April in which Corsie and other members of the squad took to Twitter to criticise the SFA over its ticketing arrangement at Hampden Park for a World Cup qualifier against Spain and the larger organisation of women’s football in Scotland.
The SFA fired back, stating its disappointment with the post and adding: “The SFA said it was "hugely disappointed by the post" and said: "The ticketing sales process used at Hampden Park is identical to most across Scottish football, with tickets sold in blocks, in line with ongoing demand."
The SFA was approached for comment.
The Scottish women's national team failed to qualify for next year's Women's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand after falling to a 1-0 defeat to Republic of Ireland in October.
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