PORTLAND, Ore. (Legal Newsline) - A professional women's soccer league is appealing a federal court ruling that struck down its age limit for players.
Judge Karin Immergut made her ruling on June 17, granting the motion for a preliminary injunction of 15-year-old Olivia Moultrie and against the National Women’s Soccer League. Moultrie asked Immergut to overturn the ban on players under 18 years old but stopped short of asking that any of the NWSL’s teams be required to hire her.
Four days after the ruling, the NWSL filed its appeal with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Immergut’s decision backs up reasoning she made when she issued a temporary restraining order. The issue came down to gender discrimination, in a way.
“Defendant provided insufficient evidence of the hardships it would allegedly suffer in the face of an injunction, and that enjoining the Age Rule serves the public interest because it both preserves free and open competition and promotes gender equity,” Immergut wrote.
“The Court noted that the NWSL’s comparable men’s league in the United States, MLS, has no age limit and employs players under 18. As of the date Plaintiff’s Complaint was filed, more than half of MLS teams allegedly had one or more players on their roster under the age of 18.
“In other words, the only thing currently standing between Plaintiff and her aspiration to be a professional soccer player in this country is her gender.”
Moultrie, as a 15-year-old prodigy, accuses the league of having no evidence of why the age rule exists or precisely what it says.
Moultrie says the age rule violates the Sherman Act, which overturns age restrictions in sports leagues.
The plaintiff pointed out that she is eligible to play in the U.S. Women's National Soccer team but not for the NWSL.
Moultrie already practices and scrimmages with the NWSL Portland Thorns.
Moultrie is represented by Miller Nash Graham and Dunn LLP, the Law Offices of Leonard B. Simon and Gustafson Gluek PLLC.