Labbe sidelined in Foothills’ last exhibition game
Chants of “Where’s Steph?” rose up from fans of FC Edmonton at the Calgary Soccer Centre on Saturday, as rival club Foothills F.C. hit the pitch without its only female player.
Despite making the cut for the Calgary men’s soccer team, Stephanie Labbe — who won bronze with the women’s national team in the 2016 Summer Olympics — was barred from playing in the Premier Development League because “the PDL is a gender-based league, women are ineligible to play,” she said on her website.
The 31-year-old goalkeeper was not dressed for the team’s final exhibition bout even though she was eligible to play in pre-season games. Head coach Tommy Wheeldon Jr. said benching Labbe was a managerial decision to allow the team’s two other netminders to prepare for regular-season matches.
“Steph’s a first-class professional — totally understood it,” Wheeldon said. “We have to be fair with all our players, like we have been with Steph in terms of giving her playing time. We have to get both Marco (Carducci) and Nathan (Ingham) ready for their upcoming season and that’s what today was about.”
Wheeldon said Labbe will continue to train with Foothills F.C. and he’s hopeful the league will make changes allowing her to play in the future.
In the meantime, he said there have been talks with a “well-established English premier women’s league” to get Labbe playing on the pitch this season. “I can’t name the name, but Stephanie’s pretty excited,” Wheeldon said.
Labbe said she’ll continue to pressure the league to change the rule. As of Sunday afternoon, an online petition calling for the league to “revoke and nullify the decision” to ban Labbe had more than 1,500 signatures.
“It’s a battle that needs to be fought and, for me, I’m a big believer in gender equality and I stand behind that 100 per cent,” she said.
Labbe made the announcement she was joining the men’s team in a blog post back in March, saying she was ready for the challenge.
“I want to challenge myself in a whole new way and push my limits on what I can achieve,” she said, adding she expected “some resistance” but was “ready to take on this challenge.”
The Stony Plain native played 49 games for the women’s national team and won bronze at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.