AC

The discrimination case filed by the coalition of the world's finest women soccer players against FIFA for forcing them to play the World Cup on artificial turf was a sure winner. FIFA's decision to play the games on turf when the men's World Cup is played on natural grass was obvious gender discrimination that, as the women said in their first brief, was an action that "devalued their dignity, state of mind and self respect" by forcing them to play "on a second class surface." If that were not enough, the women added that turf "altered the way the game was played" and subjected them to "serious risk of injury." The ultimate measure of the strength of the women's case is that there was nothing FIFA could offer in its defense. Instead of attempting to explain the substance of its decision, FIFA responded to the women with threats of retaliation, dilatory maneuvers, hyper-technical and legalistic objections to the Ontario court where the women filed, and, finally, with defiant...