Youth soccer club hopes selfie campaign draws attention to dispute between national women's team and governing body

The South Windsor Youth Soccer Club is launching a social media campaign to show solidarity for the women's national team which is engaged in a labour dispute with its governing body.

Thursday's SheBelieves Cup opener between Canada and the U.S. was overshadowed by the Canadian women's team walking out to the field with shirts donning the words, "Enough is Enough."

The team is protesting funding cuts — among other issues — made by Canada Soccer, just five months before the FIFA Women's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. Officials and players with the women's national team say the cuts have stifled their preparation.

The Windsor-based campaign involves players of all backgrounds posting selfies to show their support for the women's national soccer team.

The campaign aims to go viral, with the hope that showing support for the women's soccer team will lead to increased attention and, potentially, more funding.

The South Windsor Youth Soccer Club is asking people to share selfies in solidarity with the Canadian women's national team. (Source: South Windsor Youth Soccer Club)

"We take pictures of our breakfasts. We take pictures of everything Take the ALS ice bucket challenge, for example. If we show who we are as human beings and take selfies and show our support, it could catch on and show these women that we're here for them," said South Windsor Youth Soccer Club president Bronwen Wood.

Wood noted that the cuts seemed hypocritical, given the efforts by Canada Soccer and Ontario Soccer to promote gender equality in sports.

"To see them try to promote girls and sports and then go ahead and make these really crucial cuts to the women's program seems hypocritical to me, and I don't think it should stand," Wood said.

"We have to tell the girls in our area that, no matter what Canada Soccer does, we still support you. We still support the efforts of these women and we want to see them succeed and rise to their highest potential."

Players and coaches in the Windsor-based club have already posted selfies which, according to Wood, have captured the attention of women's national team defender Ashley Lawrence.

"She Liked one of our photos and she's one of the top players on the team, so our selfies are being noticed. They know we're behind them ... so we want everyone to our campaign."