Now that the midterm elections are over, the United States government has turned its attention to the Women’s World Cup. Specifically, the government has turned its attention to the issue of the use of turf.
This issue has become somewhat of a saga, including FIFA not backing down from turf, Canadian soccer saying that turf is just as safe as regular grass, a group of players suing FIFA on the issue of turf, FIFA being accused of threatening the players who brought the suit and now a group of 13 U.S. senators banding together to send FIFA President Sepp Blatter and USSF President Sunil Gulati a letter asking for FIFA to ensure the use of grass in the World Cup and for them to stop using turf.
So this has turned into quite the kerfuffle. Turf or no turf?
Anyone who has ever played soccer on turf, male or female, knows that it is awful. You cannot slide tackle or even fall down by “accident” because you will get your legs cut up and irritated by those little black dot things that reside in turf. If you choose not to go to the ground, your feet still feel at the end of the game like you’ve been playing while wearing those Dutch wooden clogs.
The Senators, 12 Democrats and one Republican (a ratio some media outlets had the nerve to call “bipartisan.”), are Michael Bennet (Colorado), Sherrod Brown (Ohio), Chuck Schumer (New York), Kirsten Gillibrand (New York), Patty Murray (Washington), Edward Markey (Massachusetts), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), Dianne Feinstein (California), Barbara Boxer (California), Richard Blumenthal (Connecticut), Bob Menendez (New Jersey), Bob Casey (Pennsylvania) and Maria Cantwell (Washington).
And so now we will see which has more power: FIFA or the United States Senate. It should be a battle for the ages.
