Justice for all

Under-15-year-old boys soccer team demands equal pay with women’s team

U.S.—Dozens of 15-year-old boys' soccer teams across the country have demanded equal pay to the women's national team, since they are competitive with the women and even beat them from time to time.

"It's only fair," said high-schooler Aiden Benton. "This is a clear case of sexism and age discrimination, that I get paid nothing to play and the women get a decent little paycheck."

"End pay discrimination now!" he added, clapping on each word for emphasis.

"The boy makes a really good point," said CNN reporter Holly Bandersnatch. "He clapped on each word, plus, he claimed sexism. It is only fair that the boys' team get paid the same as the world champions' women's team. You just can't argue with hand claps."

Yes, it’s the Bee, but it’s also true: 9th-grade boys soccer teams have regularly whupped the professional ladies. One example here, and another here, but google it, you’ll find more.

Of course, it’s not just soccer.; here’s a Duke Law Review article discussing the different performances of men and women in track competitions.

Yesterday over at Powerline Paul Mirengoff weighed in on female soccer player Megan Rapinoe’s appearance with Joe Biden to demand equal pay.

If Rapinoe has been “devalued,” it’s not because she’s a woman. Rather, it’s because people just aren’t that interested in women’s soccer. 

It’s easy to understand why. As many Power Line readers know, I’m a rabid soccer fan. But women’s soccer leaves me indifferent.

I’ve probably told the story about attending a soccer doubleheader during the 1996 Olympics. The first game was between the women’s teams of Brazil and Norway, both then among the top five in the world. The second was between South Korea and Ghana, both probably ranked somewhere between 25 and 30 at the time.

Watching the second game, I couldn’t believe how fast Ghana and South Korea were playing. I had never seen anything like it, or so it seemed. 

Then, I realized why the players looked so fast. It was because I had just watched women play for 90 minutes.

And at PJ Media, Stephen Green summed it up in his “Insanity Wrap”:

It is sometimes Insanity Wrap’s unpleasant job to make the obvious plain to the oblivious.

So listen up, Megan Rapinoe.

Your job is not to play soccer.

Soccer is merely the means through which you perform your actual job.

Your actual job is to sell tickets, concessions, branded clothing and trinkets, and most of all, TV commercials.

By that measure, Megan, you aren’t nearly as good at your job as Lionel Messi is at his.

So you make less money because you sell less stuff when you kick the ball around.

Just to show you there are no hard feelings, Megan, Insanity Wrap is in a similar business.

Our job isn’t to write; our job is to sell internet ads. Writing is merely the way we go about it.

Megan, by your logic Insanity Wrap should be paid as much as anyone else who sells internet ads by putting words on a virtual page.

While we would really enjoy making as much money as, say, Google, you also won’t find us making an ass of ourselves on national TV by insisting on it.

Thanks for letting us take a moment of your day, Megan, and we hope this helped.