Hope Solo has few advocates these days after taunting the Swedish team in Rio, calling them “cowards.” The Swedes played a safe and conservative game against a very aggressive US team and won, narrowly. Solo was suspended for her alleged poor sportsmanship and cannot return to the game for six months.
Hope Solo has been almost universally criticized for her heated comments, but the team’s attorney sees it differently . The New York Times quotes the general counsel for the Women’s National Team Players Assn. Rich Nichols strong defense of Solo.
“[Hope’s Suspension was] excessive, unprecedented, disproportionate, and a violation of Ms. Solo’s First Amendment rights. She was fired for making comments that a man never would have been fired for.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCQln3hpLE8
Hope Solo’s punishment is related to her previous behaviors, contended U.S. Soccer. Hope has been in trouble before, with a drunk driving charge against her husband while the two were using the team van. Then there is an assault charge against her, for allegedly attacking her nephew and sister. Solo also raised eyebrows for poking fun at the Zika problem, photographing herself wrapped in mosquito netting under the hashtag #Zikaproof according to CNN.
“Taking into consideration the past incidents involving Hope, as well as the private conversations we’ve had requiring her to conduct herself in a manner befitting a US National Team member, US Soccer determined this is the appropriate disciplinary action.”
Rich Nichols feels female soccer players are not treated fairly on many fronts. Nichols recently took a strong stand for equal pay for women in soccer, slapping U.S. Soccer with a wage discrimination lawsuit. Not only is this case being fought out in a Chicago federal court, but there is also an investigationby the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, according to The Los Angeles Times.
Hope Solo was one of five players to sign the EEOC complaint. Is there a possibility her suspension could be related to the equal pay complaint? Becky Sanerbrunn, Carli Lloyd, Megan Rapinoe, and Alex Morgan also signed the complaint, according to the Los Angeles Times . They hope to raise pay for future players, and the raise in pay would also lend credibility to women’s soccer as a sport.
The U.S. Women’s Soccer players are paid just $1,350 per game, while the Men’s Soccer team pays its players $17,625 per game, according to The Los Angeles Times . That means the women get less than 10 percent of what men get per game. U.S. Soccer management contended in court that the men brought in twice the money over the last four years. Still, the legal team headed by Rich Nichols contested their figures claiming that the women’s team earned nearly all of the $18 million in projected profits for both teams.
“This team has already started down the path of being finished with the inequities. They want to move the sport forward.”
Hope’s defense of her words and actions was clearly one of no apologies. It’s all about her persona, and who she is.
Hope Solo’s response to SI on her suspension. pic.twitter.com/Y5E5KcrECo
— Grant Wahl (@GrantWahl) August 25, 2016
Hope Solo and the team’s attorney Rich Nichols feel her punishment was unjust, Nichols is filing a grievance on her behalf. Although the tough goalkeeper will be suspended for six long months, and lose her contract, she will receive a severance package equal to three month’s pay. That leaves her without compensation for another three, and she will only miss two games during those six months, according to Yahoo . Solo is 35-years-old and will soon age out of her sport anyway, but this is certainly not the way one would want to leave.
Will Hope Solo be returning to U.S. women’s soccer in six months?
[Photo by Pedro Vilela/Getty Images]