Celtic star Alistair Johnston has taken charge of a fight against his own FA over a furious funding and equal pay battle in his native Canada.
The Hoops ace has made a huge impact since his transfer from Montreal in the winter transfer window and played for his country during their World Cup campaign. And the 24-year-old full back has become the voice of the men's team who have criticised their own association, Canada Soccer, after an ongoing row between the Canadian women's team and their lack of funding which has escalated to the Canadian government getting involved.
Their players have been fighting for equal treatment, pay, funding and resources ahead of the 2023 Women's World Cup and Johnston has announced he will do everything he can to back them in their dispute, in an interview in his homeland. The Celtic star said: "We have been in solidarity with them for a long time and we completely understand their fight. We've been working hand in hand with them.
"We see us as one big group. It's not fair as the game continues to grow in Canada and it's not just because of the men - in fact, it's mainly because of the women in the past decade that we understand where the money is going. There's a lot of questions that we need to be answered.
"Hopefully, in the next few months we are able to nail down some things. Progress has been made - it hasn't been easy for both players' pools and there have been things that we have had to do that you wouldn't expect to be involved with when you sign up with the national team, but we are just trying to leave the jersey in a better place. I'm really proud of both teams of what we are accomplished off the pitch and what we are trying to do off the pitch. Hopefully, in the next couple of months, the Canadian public will be able to be proud to us for what we have achieved,
"It was important for us to truly understand behind the scenes and I am happy that the Government are now involved. There's been so much pushing things to the sides, emails being forgotten about and things not being recorded. They were trying to kick the can down the road and hope the players would forget about it. But we stood strong and we forced their hands. We want the truth to come out.
"Everyone in Canada deserves to know what is going on. It's a national programme, it shouldn't be a private entity. This is the pride of our country and it should be at the top level and it needs to be made public."
READ NEXT:
