U.S. Soccer Players Backed by Women’s Foundation
The Women’s Sports Foundation backed the U.S. women’s soccer players Tuesday in their dispute with the federation over wages.
The 20 women who won the World Cup last summer are boycotting next month’s Australia Cup because they do not have new contracts with the U.S. Soccer Federation.
“These young women have brought honor to their sport and have given their absolute best to U.S. Soccer and the American public,” foundation President Nancy Lieberman-Cline said. “They deserve better treatment.”
The women sought a new contract proposal as early as September, but the federation preferred to begin negotiations on Dec. 1.
The players asked for $18,000 apiece to compete in four games, three in Australia and one against Norway in February. Under the old contract, which the federation wanted to continue, the players would have made $6,300 each.
The federation picked 18 replacement players last week to compete in Australia.
“It is in the best interest of soccer to put their best players on the field,” Lieberman-Cline said. “At the very least, a timely effort to come to terms should have been initiated months ago.”
Golf
Tiger Woods and Sergio Garcia head a field of 12 in this week’s $3.5-million Williams World Challenge at Grayhawk in Scottsdale, Ariz. The event, a fund-raiser for the Tiger Woods Foundation, is sanctioned by the PGA Tour but is not an official tour event.
Meanwhile, Woods said he hasn’t decided whether he will play in next month’s Phoenix Open, the tournament where he was harassed by an armed and apparently intoxicated man last January.
Asked if it was a matter of trying to work the tournament scheduled for Jan. 24-30 into his schedule, Woods said that was true, but added, “but also because of last year.”
A fan carrying a concealed weapon was wrestled to the ground and arrested during the final round. The incident occurred just after Woods had teed off on the sixth hole. Police at the time said the fan in question apparently had had too much to drink.
Miscellany
Investigators say there was nothing out of the ordinary that might have caused the crash of a plane that was going to pick up South Carolina football Coach Lou Holtz. The National Transportation Safety Board’s preliminary report said all flight operations were normal when the Beech King Air turboprop was making its approach to Lady’s Island, S.C., on Dec. 19. Pilot Dewey “Sonny” Foster, 65, of Columbia, S.C., was killed in the crash. Co-pilot Joseph Baier, 77, managed to escape before ruptured fuel tanks caused a fire that destroyed the plane. Holtz had been dropped off earlier in the day on a recruiting trip.
Former Carolina Panther receiver Rae Carruth underwent DNA tests to determine whether he fathered the baby whose mother he is accused of killing. Carruth and authorities have said he is the father of 6-week-old Chancellor Lee Adams, but confirmation was needed for a custody hearing.
Roger Staubach, Red Grange, Herschel Walker and O.J. Simpson were named starters on the Walter Camp Football Foundation’s All-Century college team. Others included Ron Yary and Ronnie Lott of USC and Kenny Easley of UCLA. Reserves included Brad Budde and Tim McDonald of USC and Jerry Robinson and John Lee of UCLA.
Officials dismissed two protests against Danish-Australian yacht Nokia, and its record time of 1 day 19 hours 48 minutes 2 seconds for the 630-nautical-mile race from Sydney to Hobart, Australia, will stand. That beat the old mark by 18 hours 19 minutes.
Germany’s Dieter Baumann, the gold medalist in the 5,000-meter run at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, faces a two-year ban from the German athletics federation after a second urine sample showed traces of the banned steroid nandrolone. Baumann has been suspended since Nov. 19, when his first sample showed traces of nandrolone 10 times over the permitted level in out-of-competition tests.
Hockey
The United States, featuring a team of 10 NHL draftees, beat Slovakia, 1-0, for its first victory in the World Junior Ice Hockey Championships in Sweden. Adam Hall of Michigan State scored in 14th minute on an assist by Andy Hilbert. The victory at Skelleftea kept the Americans unbeaten in Pool A. They tied the Czech Republic, 2-2, in their opening game. The Czechs lead with four points after three games. The U.S. and Canada, which tied the Czechs, 1-1, have three points each after two games. At Umea, Henrik Sedin scored twice and had two assists as Sweden routed Ukraine, 6-1. Sweden shares the lead with Russia in Pool B at four points after two games.
Cammi Granato, A.J. Mleczko and Karyn Bye scored goals to lead the U.S. over Sweden, 3-1, in women’s hockey at Lake Placid, N.Y. Erin Whitten stopped 12 shots.
Winter Sports
Skier Anita Wachter of Austria won for the first time this season on the World Cup circuit, taking a women’s giant slalom race at Leinz, Austria. . . . Peter Schlickenrieder of Germany edged Havard Solbakken of Norway in a photo finish to win a men’s cross-country freestyle World Cup sprint event at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.
