There has been much talk about the battle between MLS and WUSA to launch a women’s pro league. The W-League, which now consists of W-1 and W-2 leagues comprising 36 teams, has just kicked off its sixth season.
With so much focus on the prospects of a women’s professional league, Soccer America spoke to four people involved in the primary domestic women’s league ù the W-League. The USL’s distaff version is an open league, which means that college and youth players can play alongside paid players, of which there are few.
COLETTE CUNNINGHAM
(Striker, Maryland Pride)
Cunningham has seen it all during her career.
She starred at N.C. State, earned two caps for the United States in 1992, became the first woman to play in the Continental Indoor Soccer League and spent five years in Italy.
But the 28-year-old striker is unable to make a living from soccer, so she works as a cop.
Yes, she is a police officer in Arlington County, Va., and aspires to work for the FBI, as her father did.
After playing for the CISL’s Washington Warthogs, she headed to Italy, where she played in Serie A for Lazio (1994) and Sporting Sorento (1995-98).
She returned home to care for her ill father and rejoined the Pride, for which she had played during a summer at home in 1997. She earned a decent salary in the semiprofessional Italian league but is not paid by the Wings.
When she’s not training three times a week or playing, Cunningham is busy raising her 4-year-old son, Kevin, and pursuing her other passion: law enforcement.
Cunningham has also signed a letter of intent with WUSA.
“For anyone who’s ever played soccer, this is what we’ve been waiting for,” Cunningham said. “I may take a leave of absence [from the police department] to play.”
BILL PALLADINO
(Head coach, Raleigh Wings)
Palladino knows talent. He has coached many national team players during his 20-year association with the University of North Carolina as assistant coach. Knowing what talent was available in the Triangle in part led him to coach the Wings.
He had been the coach of the W-League’s Greensboro Dynamo but soured on the league when he ended up handling administrative duties and other chores in addition to coaching.
When Wings owner Hugo Uyttenhove came calling three seasons ago, he assured Palladino that an administrative structure was in place. “Dino” would focus on coaching and finding players ù which wouldn’t be difficult given the talent produced by nearby UNC, Duke and N.C. State ù so he signed on.
Raleigh has won the last two W-1 titles under Palladino. This spring, the Wings beat North Carolina, 2-0, in an exhibition.
Palladino says W-League players generally have much more experience than college teams. W-League teams are also more balanced than colleges, “which have holes at one or two or three positions,” Palladino said. “[But] some of the weaker teams could lose to some college teams.”
CHUCK JACOB
(Owner, Long Island Lady Riders)
When Jacob and his wife co-owned the A-League’s Long Island Rough Riders, they established a women’s team because they saw a future in women’s soccer. They subsequently sold their interest in the men’s team.
The amount of time Jacob spends overseeing the Lady Riders and handling their financial matters varies because of his real job: He is a partner in a small firm specializing in commercial litigation.
The Lady Riders have a history of success ù they’ve made the W-league playoffs every year except 1996, won the first league title in 1995 and again in ’97. They averaged more than 1,000 fans per game and broke even on a budget of about $250,000 last year.
Could they duplicate their success at the professional level? The Lady Riders’ Mitchell Field would be an ideal site for a New York team.
“We have had preliminary discussions with the WUSA people,” Jacob said, “but it’s only preliminary at this point.”
Jacob says the level of play in a pro league would not necessarily be much higher than that of the W-League. He points to how his team beat Brazil, 2-0, on the eve of last summer’s Women’s World Cup. Brazil finished third.
BETTY KRUEGER
(General Manager, Chicago Cobras)
Krueger got involved in soccer for a familiar reason ù because her daughter played. She wanted her daughter and her teammates to have a place to play in the summer and after college, so she helped start the W-League Rockford Dactyls. Then in 1996, she helped found the Cobras in Chicago, because owner Terry McKay no longer wanted to sponsor a team that was as far away as Rockford.
Krueger, a part-time accountant, spends about 40 hours per week on the Cobras during the season. She does “just about everything that needs to get done, except coaching and choosing players,” she said. Krueger makes travel arrangements, orders uniforms and prints tickets. She also negotiated Chicago’s contract with Puma, making 2000 the first year the Cobras have had a major uniform sponsor.
This could also be Chicago’s best year. The Cobras have never won the title but have lost twice in the final on penalties. In preseason voting by league coaches, Chicago is favored to win its first W1 title.
Krueger is excited about the prospect of professional women’s soccer and the potential relationship of the W-League as a feeder system to a pro league. But she’s unhappy WUSA doesn’t list Chicago as one of its eight tentative markets.
“I think that for the most part we’ve been overlooked as a market and as a source of real talent,” she said. “We’ve shown you can play great soccer in Chicago.”
by Soccer America associate editor Dean Caparaz