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KRYSTLE MARCELLUS / KMARCELLUS@STARADVERTISER.COM
The USA women’s soccer team practiced at Aloha Stadium in Halawa on Saturday.
The USA women’s soccer friendly with Trinidad and Tobago at Aloha Stadium has been canceled, according to the U.S. Soccer Federation.
“We are extremely disappointed that this event will not take place at Aloha Stadium,” said Aloha Stadium manager Scott Chan in a statement. “U.S. Soccer officials informed us that this game will not be played at approximately nine (Saturday night). We feel the people of Hawaii deserve to see an international soccer match of this caliber, however, we were unable to reach an agreement with U.S. Soccer to allow this event to happen.”
The soccer match was scheduled for 3 p.m. today at the stadium, but has been called off because of poor field conditions — particularly in the bench area where the two football teams stand during the game.
The women’s team members have complained about playing on synthetic surfaces in recent months, and this was the last straw, one source confirmed. The men usually play on grass fields and the women have said they want the same treatment. Risk of injury is always a concern on surfaces similar to that of Aloha Stadium.
The defending Women’s World Cup champions practiced Saturday in front of 3,000 fans and complained that the field was too dangerous. It wasn’t just about the turf, either.
“My concern is that (the venue) is very narrow,” said head coach Jill Ellis before the training session. “I think it’s 66 yards wide. So, when you play in a tight space, obviously there’s more contact.”
Some team members went to Twitter to voice their concerns.
Our loyal fans: Thanks for standing with us against unsafe field conditions & standing tall for #equal treatment pic.twitter.com/abn560Kitw
— Hope Solo (@hopesolo) December 6, 2015
“Very disappointed with the surface, to be honest,” said midfielder Carli Lloyd. “I think coming to Hawaii is great and it’s great to be able to play here. But you take a look at the field, it’s just not good enough … You look at a surface like this, you just worry that people are going to get injured and something’s going to happen.”
There were rumors all day that the team would possibly pull out of the competition and that’s what eventually happened. They are scheduled to play Trinidad and Tobago in another friendly match on Dec. 10 in San Antonio.
“We extend our sincere apologies to those fans who were scheduled to attend the U.S. Women’s National Team match in Hawaii,” said U.S. Soccer spokesman Neil Buethe. “Player safety is our number one priority at all times and after a thorough inspection throughout the day, we determined it was in the best interest for both teams to not play the match. We regret not being able to play in front of our fantastic, loyal fans.”
All ticket buyers will be fully refunded according to a statement released by the U.S. Soccer Federation. “All internet and phone orders will be automatically refunded with a confirmation sent via email. Fans that purchased at Ticketmaster ticket centers will need to return their tickets to the location where purchased in order to obtain a refund. Those who purchased at Aloha Stadium will need to return to the venue ticket office open Monday-Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.”
The release added “… Those who bought directly through U.S. Soccer will be refunded by U.S. Soccer. Fans with questions about their refund can contact their respective place of purchase directly: Ticketmaster Fan Support at 800-653-8000, Aloha Stadium at (808) 483-2500 or U.S. Soccer at 312-528-1290 or tickets@ussoccer.org.”
can’t blame the women’s team for pulling out of the aloha stadium game.
soccer played on artificial turf is so dangerous that all fifa men’s games are scheduled on natural grass.
unfortunately, fifa women’s soccer revenues do not support fifa funding at any level approaching that of fifa funding for men’s soccer.
local clubs expecting to see the best in women’s soccer in hawaii must be disappointed.
they’re just making a big stink because one of them got injured on playing on natural grass
Didn’t they hold a big men’s pro soccer tournament in Aloha Stadium just a few years ago? I don’t remember them complaining about the field conditions during that event.
Are the “Big Men” world champions at anything?
It is disappointing. I can’t understand why the field wsnt inspected when they were scheduling this event.
Just as “Tourists” arrive and find artificial grass; they also discover that an advertised “Paradise” is just another “RODEO DRIVE” (formerly known as Waikiki), and the pictured quaint local shops and lei-stands looks more like “THE SHOPPING-MALL OF THE PACIFIC” (FKA : “ALA MOANA Shopping Center”),and a “GREEN-BOTTLE CITY” (FKA : “KAKAAKO”), and now another “BART”, “MTA”, “CTA”, etc–ad naseum… So, now, this leaves “HTA” with only arrivals from Japan and Korea–who don’t have the money to spend on all those high-end boutiques and department-stores (lots of “Lookey-Lu’s”); and all the affluent Tourists are flocking to Maui and other outer-islands–in search of “Hawaiiana”)… And, as Oahu continues to expand–with no infrastructure and over-population–it’s citizens will surely drown in their own excrement…
Get a life if you don’t like where you live move please. Stop moaning yo0u don’t know what you are talking about tourist Japan and Korea spends a lot who do you think goes to high end stores in Ala Moana fool.
Why not do development correctly, not just to cater to the rich. Why don’t you move!
I don’t know the first thing about playing soccer on turf, but good for them for playing it safe.
I remember going to the victory tour after the 2004 Olympics, at the Home Depot stadium in LA, and on-field seats were $125 each and they allowed you to keep the lawn chair that was your seat for the game. Mia Hamm, Julie Foudy, and I think Joy Fawcett played in the game and designated it as their last WNT game. I was surprised a few weeks ago when I saw how expensive the close seats were for this game so I never bought tickets.
Yeah, so, our Stadium, like our Sewer system, Electrical grid system, roads, public schools, beach park facilities and airport… suck. Another proud reminder of the good ole’ boy Union/Political “leadership.” Oh, and free HEE!
Agree. No respect and NO PRIDE !!!
You can add rail to your list once it gets completed.
when they found out that this game was gonna be held here, they should’ve cancelled the UH football season and renovated the turf instead !
and,,, send HEE to jail for a long long time !
I why not have the game at Waipio???
Totally agree. They should’ve known this a long time ago and utilized the Waipio park. What a waste.
Agree hard to believe they didn’t know about the field until the day before the game. They can take their stupid attitude and a kick and get the heck out of Hawaii. And their player that got hurt? On the UH GRASS field.
dont forget a short while back also. a college team that came to play was refusing to play on the waipio field because of poor conditions. last minute repairs made the game able to proceed.
and waipio cant hold enuff people and parking.
That’s what I say. UH Wahine games are at Waipio. Should’ve just moved the game to Waipio. The team didn’t check the field until the day before? Well, they had a good vacation while it lasted. They won’t complain about that.
Or was it just poor ticket sales?
Had between 15-16 thousand tickets sold. Evening news said they EXPECTED between 25-40 thousand.
i came for the free tacos.
Weak, a little bump on the turf and you can’t play. I will never go to a women’s soccer game again. Megan gets hurt at UH on natural grass so no more youth soccer as kids might get hurt too? My daughter is so disappointed!
So sad for all the young kids, this is a good lesson that even freeloaders complain about nothing. What is behind this, they are the ones making an issue. Are they really that good?
Yes, they are that good!
Swap meet better.
Thank you for the Hawaiian Vacation.
FREE HAWAIIAN VACATION. Our fearless wasted our tax-paying money again on ‘outsiders.’
Well if the venue changed to Waipio how would they figure out the seating? Still they should have realized there is not grass at Aloha Stadium! Maybe ticket sales were depressing and this is a nice way of saying “why play for 100 people?” Do a meet and greet instead…
It was almost sold out so that is NOT the reason
Almost sold out?? 40,000 fans?? What a joke. Drop a zero and you’ll still be way off.
6 o’clock news said 15-16 thousand tickets sold.
Didnt one single genius from either AS or the USSF stand up and “hey, let’s do a walkthorugh (on turf we refuse to play on) at the facility before we sign a contract”????!!!! This is unbelievably incompetent on both sides, and the fans suffer, especially all the kids who wnated to see world class soccer. To me, it seems a bit Prima Donna’ism. Is there a higher injury risk for 120lb ladies kicking a ball aorund than 300lb men slamming into each other on this surface. USSF … dont ever come back here.
They try to act so tough! and you are right…prima donnas.
No, it was the right thing to do. Decision should have been made months ago. These are the best the U.S. have, they need to protected from safe playing conditions.
BOGUS. They knew that the stadium was to be used “AS IS” and they accepted it. They used Hawaii as a scapegoat for their own agenda.
Easy come easy go. At least some fans got to see the women when they first got here.
Yeah the field is good enough for the pro bowl and the NFL’s million dollar athletes to play on but not good enough for these prima donnas…What a joke!!
the running and tackling techniques in soccer is very different from american football, and, football players have more pads and protection from their uniforms.
fifa men’s teams all play on natural grass. it should be the same for the fifa women’s teams.
understand your point,, but this issue didn’t develop last nite or the day before.
Wow Hawaii needs some SERIOUS help. The fact we do not use REAL grass is absurd !
Real grass cannot survive at the stadium because there are too many events there. The high school football games alone would wear out the graas within a few weeks. Most of the grass fields we see on TV are dedicated for one team and are only used once every couple of weeks.
Yeah they should have addresse this way before tickets went on sale. Or……ticket sales were really bad.
waipahu get one mean soccer complex. All real grass
Even though it’s a grass field, Waipio has worse playing conditions than Aloha Stadium. Several colleges were refusing to play there 2 seasons ago, but because UH paid the guarantees, they played.
SHIBAI,how rediculous. They say that they are a “professional” team, and after having a “FREE VACATION ALL THIS WEEK IN HAWAI’I” AND FREE PUBLICITY. Clueless. Go back home, please leave as soon as you can. Freeloaders!
This is an embarrassment to the state of Hawaii. This is so typical of the way things are in Hawaii though. Lack of maintenance of their facility until someone gets hurt. It took a World Champion team to expose the poor conditions at the stadium to garner some attention. Lets see if any gets done. Probably not. Like I said, typical.
The State of Hawai’i fell for these freeloaders.
Do the players actually have the right to refuse to play? Someone here lost money. Who pays for promotions, airfare, accomodations etc. Does this come out of the players pockets? I don’t think so.
Who pays for all the little girls broken hearts?
This was done because ticket sales were probably low and we’re “just hawaii”. The players should hold a free clinic for their following here.
News of stadium’s poor condition made it to national news. Embarrassing.
http://espn.go.com/espnw/news-commentary/article/14301016/us-women-national-team-cancels-match-hawaii-artificial-turf-conditions
The part of the field that they lifted up wasn’t even in the field of play. They way they made it it was like it was in the middle of the field. If that was the case, then even UH football or the Pro Bowl wouldn’t even play on that field.
It was part of the field. The field has interchangeable panels that reduce costs of painting. The mid field logo and the end zones are interchangeable. It is replaced the same way the Jets/Giants field is now replaced. The Aloha Stadium Grounds Crew just failed to properly replace the panels. In addition, the replacement panels’ field turf sticks up almost an inch higher than the regular field. I noticed that at the 2012 Hawaii Bowl when I walked around the field.
krusha said: “The part of the field that they lifted up wasn’t even in the field of play” And you know this how? Did a little twitty bird on WSN tell you so? Go back to that board where you can post you bs on.
I’ve got a kid crying in her room now. This match was like Christmas day to her. Perhaps a little more planning should have taken place before even booking this match. What a fiasco.
Absolutely right. Obvious there was no planning or coordination for this event before the team even set foot in Hawaii. Accountability issues, again.
This faux pas is all on US Soccer. If field conditions and size are so important, they should have sent someone to personally inspect the facility prior to scheduling this match to make sure it was up to their standards. They’ve disappointed so many kids and fans with their screw up.
Not safe enough for them, but they could care less about our kids playing on it, be it high school or UH.
Where’s Ige? We need to repair the stadium. take care of the homeless, replace the zip mobile, etc. The list is getting longer!
and don’t forget about HEE !!!
Christmas time is Ho, Ho, Ho.
Many of these comments are absurd in that they are so uninformed – such as saying the team doesn’t care about the disappointment caused; such as saying our taxpayer dollars are being used – such as calling the team members prima donnas. The fault is with US Soccer and FIFA.
The synthetic turf issue was an issue during World Cup because the Men’s teams have NEVER played a World Cup on synthetic turf.
The Women’s teams are treated as second class citizens re: compensation at World Cups.
I FULLY support the decision of OUR WORLD CUP CHAMPS and OUR US WOMENS NATIONAL SOCCER TEAM, and I am a neighbor islander who bought tickets, incurred airfare, car rental, and hotel costs. For that reason, I will be checking into the possibility of a class-action suit against US Soccer and FIFA – NOT against the team. It is NOT the team’s responsibility to ensure the reserved venue is suitable, safe, and on par with the standards afforded the Men’s teams. THAT is a responsibility of US Soccer and FIFA!
Glad to see at least one person understands the situation. Hope you are refunded.
The members of the Women’s National Team have ALWAYS been extremely accessible to fans and have expressed appreciation for ALL the fans. They knew from the beginning of forming that they themselves needed to play a BIG ROLE in developing a fan base – and worked hard to do so – one youth soccer team at a time, one soccer Mom at a time, one city at a time, winning games one at a time, making themselves available for interviews, etc.
I went to the Women’s World Cup at the Rose Bowl in CA and I couldn’t believe how accessible the players were! There were several scheduled fan events and I attended every one of them!
These players CARE that the game was cancelled. These players HAD to take a stand.
I would refer naysayers to “A Hero For Daisy” and “Rise of the Wahine” – 2 excellent films on issues facing women – even now – in sports. The first film has been in circulation for a while; the second one is about our UH Wahine Volleyball Team and was shown at last year’s HIFF – winning a People’s Choice Award. It will soon be released. Both can be found online. Do a search for “…Hero…” and “Rise…” Can be found at http://www.riseofthewahine. Directed and produced by Dean Kaneshiro, Ryan Kalei Tsuji and Tiffany Taylor.
IF THEY CARE ABOUT THE FANS THEN WHY WAS THE SUNDAY PRACTICE NOT PUBLICIZED?
You are absolutely right. This is not the players’ fault. They go where US Soccer sends them. It was US Soccer’s responsibility to ensure the facility met their standards and any concerns were addressed before they agreed to this match and all of the arrangements made and tickets sold.
Agreed – and US Soccer Federation. I think it was great the team went to Waipio today and had a training session – and signed autographs.
I would bet money that if the US Men’s Team were the World Cup Champs and participating in a Victory Tour (if they would even participate in a Victory Tour), they would NOT be scheduled at venues with synthetic turf.
This is an issue of #Equality. #SupportOurTeam
Just as we saw pineapple and sugar cane in Hawaii go by the wayside, who knows if our vulnerable visitor industry will ever follow the same path? Hence, we should not be spending our general tax funds so recklessly on bailing out back burner issues, such as the rail, homeless, and refugees.
Unbelievable. What a disappointment to the fans. Not one person could have inspected the field ahead of time, they literally cancel at the last minute??
If you go to the link provided by Oahuan, you see it was not specifically about the maintenance or quality of the stadium turf. It was the fact that it was turf. Period. Agree with all who said, didn’t US Soccer know the stadium was turf, not natural grass before Saturday night? And didn’t they know the width of the field before Saturday night? So it would appear that the fault was largely with US Soccer. I don’t completely absolve the women’ team, though. Boxx said, we always wonder how they pick the field, and the men’s team has not played on turf all year. That being the case, why did they wait until after spending thousands of dollars on tickets for multiple teams, to turn their “wonder” into a formal complaint. If they’ve been wondering this all year, the women’s team should have asked the question before they got here, once they found out it was turf, declined the tournament many weeks ago, not after they started their tour on island.
You give the players clout which they don’t have – similar to thinking teachers have a big say in the DOE.
The players train; the players play – that’s their role. PERIOD.
It’s up to FIFA, the US Soccer Federation, and US Soccer to provide the standards,provide the rules, provide the venues, contract with a ticket-selling venue, etc. NOT THE TEAM.
I agree
And they want to shrink Aloha Stadium even more.
Ok, all you people with the vicious comments have won. Outside sports teams will never come here again. And you guys have also managed to insult a lot of visitors. Good going!
incompetence by not doing homework first, not making it clear the rapinoe injury didnt happen at aloha stadium by the media, disappointing, the country is going down the toilet
Whatever happened to being thorough? Can’t tell me someone wasn’t responsible for getting info regarding field conditions. Well, looks like my husband will be going to return the tickets we purchased since he took the day off tomorrow.
They probably didnʻt want to play because nobody was buying tickets. The field was good enough all season for UH. Now because “the bench area where the two football teams stand during the game” is in supposed poor condition they don’t want to play? Bogus. I smell something and its not the turf at Aloha Stadium.
The Aloha Stadium was NOt used by UH Soccer – Waipio was – and there were some teams which refused to play there as a result of poor conditions. Refer to interviews by Coach Michelle “Bud” Nagamine in the newspaper archives.
Before making statements about WHY you THINK they didn’t want to play, why don’t you CHECK FACTS such as HOW MANY TICKETS were sold?
If you are referring to Aloha Stadium being “good enough” for football players, then I would point to the padding which football players wear. Soccer players don’t. In addition, there is no give on synthetic turf, so it increases the possibility of injury to players. From a game perspective,the ball bounces differently on turf, but this, too, ends up being a safety issue for players such as slide tackling.
Wasn’t there a rash of some skin disease – like impetigo – thought to be a result of the turf ‘strawberries’ of UH football players?
6 o’clock news said 15-16 thousand tickets sold.
Its not about football padding,, its about knee injuries
15-16,000 tickets A LOT more than UH was selling for football.
Yes, it is about preventing knee injuries, but it’s also about slide tackling on turf vs grass.
Football players have padding when they are playing on turf; Soccer players don’t.
I didn’t say it was used by UH soccer AND I already knew how many tickets were sold & that was my point. Because I DID do my research. They expected closer to 40,000 tickets to be sold & 15,000 was not enough for them. UH football SOLD way more than 15,000…maybe not all tickets were used…but they were SOLD. These soccer “girls” used Hawaii as a scapegoat for their campaign to be treated equal with the men’s team. They knew when they signed the contract what kind of surface was in place at Aloha Stadium. IF safety was such a concern then they should have never agreed to the venue. This was all a setup by THEM. Soccer is not a sport…its a GAME and thats what these little girls are doing, playing games.
Another proud moment for Hawaii inter-structure.
Perhaps a look at the contract would clear this up. What, exactly were the stipulations in the contract? When were inspections scheduled to ensure the contract was fulfilled? The US Soccer Officials must have known about the dimensions prior to signing. If the US Soccer Officials signing the contract did not stipulate minimal standards for playing, the State is off the hook. If, on the other hand, the Stadium Authority agreed to specific field requirements and didn’t deliver; then they are accountable.
sounds like the u.s. women’s fifa soccer team had to do something drastic to capture the attention of the fifa international officials to call them into action by allotting more funding to world wide women’s soccer development as well as increasing the financing of the fifa women’s soccer teams at the elite levels.
just for fun, did anyone see any press coverage of the opponents that were to play in today’s game, where they came from, where they were staying while on oahu, where they were practicing, what hangouts they visited or even when they arrived in hawaii? were they even in town?
could it be that the women’s fifa teams knew that the strongly independent u.s. soccer team would take one for the ladies and stand up for women’s international soccer?