Star soccer players yesterday were joined by lawmakers from three parties at the Legislative Yuan to witness the inauguration of Taiwan’s first organized union for female athletes.
The Taiwan Women’s Football Players’ Association pledges to uphold their collective rights, improve game facilities and playing conditions, and seek equal pay with male players when playing on the women’s national team.
The association’s first chairwoman is Hualian City captain Wang Hsiang-hui (王湘惠).
Photo: CNA
Wang, 33, has returned to Taiwan after playing professionally in Japan and China.
This year, she led Hualien City to a historic double in local women’s soccer, as they won the Mulan League title and captured the Mulan League Cup, while last year’s champions the Taichung Blue Whale came in second in both competitions.
This is the second local union organized for sports players, after a union was formed for professional baseball players in 1995 and, after encountering many obstacles, was restarted in 2008, Wang said, adding that the association is the first union for female athletes in the nation.
Taichung Blue Whale striker Michelle Pao (包欣玄), who has also returned home after gaining international experience, was this year’s Golden Boot winner after scoring 21 goals.
Pao and Taipei Bravo Bear star Su Sin-yun (蘇芯芸) joined Wang in a display of solidarity for the launch of the female players’ union.
“Our aim is to improve players’ knowledge of the game and to work together to improve our positions when negotiating with club management,” Wang said. “In the future, we can help players negotiate their salaries with teams and protect the rights of female players.”
Women’s soccer could have a better environment in Taiwan, but there are disparities of resources, financial support and facilities compared with the men’s league, Wang said.
“Having a union is the first step toward female players having collective bargaining rights and a mechanism for filing complaints about unfair treatment,” Wang said, adding that female athletes also want improved medical treatment.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳), who heads the soccer governing body in Kaohsiung, presented a congratulations letter to the union from the Asian Football Confederation.
Legislators Chiu Hsien-chih (邱顯智) of the New Power Party and Lai Hsiang-lin (賴香伶) of the Taiwan People’s Party showed their support for female soccer players in Taiwan, as did Chinese Taipei Football Association deputy secretary Chiao Chia-hong (焦佳弘) and Chou Ssu-chi (周思齊), chairman of the baseball players union and a veteran member of CTBC Brothers.
Alain Robert, known as the "French Spider-Man," praised Alex Honnold as exceptionally well-prepared after the US climber completed a free solo ascent of Taipei 101 yesterday. Robert said Honnold's ascent of the 508m-tall skyscraper in just more than one-and-a-half hours without using safety ropes or equipment was a remarkable achievement. "This is my life," he said in an interview conducted in French, adding that he liked the feeling of being "on the edge of danger." The 63-year-old Frenchman climbed Taipei 101 using ropes in December 2004, taking about four hours to reach the top. On a one-to-10 scale of difficulty, Robert said Taipei 101
Nipah virus infection is to be officially listed as a category 5 notifiable infectious disease in Taiwan in March, while clinical treatment guidelines are being formulated, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. With Nipah infections being reported in other countries and considering its relatively high fatality rate, the centers on Jan. 16 announced that it would be listed as a notifiable infectious disease to bolster the nation’s systematic early warning system and increase public awareness, the CDC said. Bangladesh reported four fatal cases last year in separate districts, with three linked to raw date palm sap consumption, CDC Epidemic Intelligence
US climber Alex Honnold left Taiwan this morning a day after completing a free-solo ascent of Taipei 101, a feat that drew cheers from onlookers and gained widespread international attention. Honnold yesterday scaled the 101-story skyscraper without a rope or safety harness. The climb — the highest urban free-solo ascent ever attempted — took just more than 90 minutes and was streamed live on Netflix. It was covered by major international news outlets including CNN, the New York Times, the Guardian and the Wall Street Journal. As Honnold prepared to leave Taiwan today, he attracted a crowd when he and his wife, Sanni,
Taiwanese and US defense groups are collaborating to introduce deployable, semi-autonomous manufacturing systems for drones and components in a boost to the nation’s supply chain resilience. Taiwan’s G-Tech Optroelectronics Corp subsidiary GTOC and the US’ Aerkomm Inc on Friday announced an agreement with fellow US-based Firestorm Lab to adopt the latter’s xCell, a technology featuring 3D printers fitted in 6.1m container units. The systems enable aerial platforms and parts to be produced in high volumes from dispersed nodes capable of rapid redeployment, to minimize the risk of enemy strikes and to meet field requirements, they said. Firestorm chief technology officer Ian Muceus said
RSS