BRISBANE — England captain Millie Bright says the Lionesses are now fully focused on the World Cup following a dispute with the FA over performance-related bonuses.
The squad have paused talks over pay for the duration of the tournament following Fifa’s introduction of a new system which sees individual athletes paid a fee depending on their team’s progress.
National associations such as the FA were previously given a prize pool by Fifa and they would subsequently decide how that money was allocated.
Some nations, including the USA and co-hosts Australia, have paid players additional bonuses on top of their basic fees, but England players have been locked in a stalemate and released a statement earlier this week confirming there would be no more negotiations until after the World Cup.
“Obviously it’s not a situation anyone wants to be in but as players we’re not just programmed to play football,” Bright said.
“Sometimes we have to have these conversations. But we have a very professional group and football is always at the front of everything.
“I’m aware that everyone has seen the statement so as players now our heads are on the game, they always have been on the game but with respect everything is on hold with those sorts of questions and we’ll address the situation at a later date. But for now it’s all about the tournament.”
Head coach Sarina Wiegman said that while she was aware of ongoing conversations between her players and the FA, “I haven’t noticed anything about that when we go on the pitch.
“Everyone is aligned and everyone is focused on football. I haven’t seen any other behaviour. We have said all the time we want to be ready on 22 July, we’ve had our last training sessions and we’re ready to go tomorrow.”
England have been inadvertently drawn into another dispute too, with Fifa only allowing “sanctioned” armbands for particular social causes. It means players wearing rainbow armbands in support of the LGBT+ community could face sanctions, including yellow cards.
England will wear Fifa’s approved armbands, with Bright adding: “Everything we made a decision on we did as a team. The decision with the armband took us a while.
“We thought long and hard and as a collective we stuck with what Fifa proposed so we will be wearing different armbands.
We thought it was important to shed a light on all the causes we feel strongly about as a team.”
The Chelsea centre-back will also have the weight of the captain’s armband to contend with as she stands in for injured Leah Williamson following her ACL tear towards the end of last season.
Bright insists, though, that the captaincy has not changed her as a player.
“Things have stayed the same,” Bright said.
“I’d like to think Sarina and my teammates would say with or without the armband, my behaviour is the same and my mentality.
“While there’s extra responsibilities, we’ve got a very united group where people take care of themselves, and every single day everyone shows up to the training pitch with 100 per cent mentality to win and be better and we’ve got a lot of leaders in the group.
“There’s always that extra responsibility being captain but for me it’s the same process.”
The fact the defender was sat alongside Wiegman on the eve of the tournament was promising for England in itself. A knee injury ruled her out of the end of the 2022-23 campaign, missing out on Chelsea sealing both the WSL title and the FA Cup.
Bright might have been in danger of missing her country’s World Cup opener too, which puts her in a unique position to sympathise with domestic teammate Sam Kerr after the Australian striker was ruled out of her country’s first two matches.
“I’m obviously really sad for her,” Bright said. “I wish her the best in her recovery and hopefully we can get to see her back on the pitch.”
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