The United States national women’s team has issued a statement on the cancellation of the recent International match against T&T which had been scheduled for the Aloha Stadium in Honolulu on December 6.
In their statement which was published on the Players Tribune website, the players thanked the T&T team for their understanding.
“We also want to thank our opponents, T&T. Obviously, for them to come all the way to Hawaii to play us is an incredibly long trip. We thank them for understanding our decision and for understanding that it comes from a place of wanting to protect players. This was not just about protecting our team, but about protecting their team as well.
“And this was about wanting to protect women’s soccer players in general. We have become so accustomed to playing on whatever surface is put in front of us. But we need to realise that our protection—our safety—is priority No 1. At the end of the day, we expect to be treated equally as our male counterparts. And we hope that, in the future, our fields and our venues will be chosen and inspected at the standard of an international match—whether it’s men or women playing on the field.”
The both teams met in the second scheduled fixture in San Antonio on December 10 with the US finishing 6-0 winners.