TUESDAY'S Euro 2017 squad announcement, which was put back a week because of the dispute between the Scotland players and the Scottish FA, will go ahead. The sides settled their differences last night.
Although details have yet to emerge, my understanding is the players will not be paid appearance money. This remained a red-line issue for the SFA, who don't pay the men either.
Nevertheless, a statement on behalf of the players released by PFA Scotland claimed: “The first ever collective agreement between SWNT and the SFA is a major step towards achieving equality and parity between the men's and women's game at all levels.”
That may be some way off, but the squad, led by captain Gemma Fay, won concessions. Both sides will be relieved that the dispute has been resolved, allowing all concerned to concentrate on the Euros, which start three weeks today (sun).
FIONA Cardwell, or McIntyre as she now is following her recent marriage, started her new job as executive officer of Scottish Women's Football last week.
McIntyre, a former events manager at Aberdeen Sports Village, already sits on the SWF board, so will be all too aware of how big a job she faces.
The organisation is not held in high esteem by the leading clubs and it is McIntyre's task to turn that around by exhibiting strong leadership.
An immediate priority will be to knock the second half of the season into shape. The Scotland under-19 side's qualification for their championship in Northern Ireland has exacerbated an already difficult fixture situation.
Their success means there will be SWPL1 postponements for the first two rounds of matches in August. After that Hibernian, who will go into the summer break as league leaders if they don't lose to Aberdeen today, travel to Romania for three Champions League qualifying round matches.
Neither the Edinburgh club nor Glasgow City are likely to play any league games in August as they were due to meet each other when Hibs are away.
McIntyre also needs to encourage the league management committee to meet more regularly. Her former club, Aberdeen, are still waiting to hear if they will forfeit their scheduled midweek game against Spartans on May 17 – one they couldn't fulfil because many of their players were unable to travel.
The LMC finally convene tomorrow night, but a six-week hiatus is not satisfactory.
Then there is the SSE Scottish Women's Cup last 16 draw. It hasn't taken place despite the previous round having been concluded last Sunday. It is standard practice in football for draws to be made within 24 hours of the previous round being completed.
McIntyre is, I'm told, highly regarded, so here's hoping she can make a difference.
IT was an exciting week, especially, for those players who are in both the Scotland under-19 and Hibs squads. On Thursday they learned they will play hosts Northern Ireland, four-time winners Germany and Spain in the Euro finals.
Then 24 hours later it was the Women's Champions League draw which sends Hibs to Romania to play Olimpia Cluj, WFC-2 Kharkiv and Swansea City in the qualifying group round. As previously stated, both sets of games are in August.
While disrupting the domestic season, the players will benefit hugely.
HEAD-shaker of the week was a newspaper article yesterday which suggested Shelley Kerr might want to look at players from SWPL2 clubs when seeking to replace senior Scotland internationalists.
It's just a hunch, but the incoming head coach may have other priorities.
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