ANNE M. PETERSON
AP Sports Writer

From the moment Canada’s bid for the 2015 Women’s World Cup was announced and an artificial playing surface was part of the deal, Abby Wambach was concerned.

Surely soccer’s governing body would realize that fake grass did not rise to the level of the game’s premier tournament, the world’s all-time leading international scorer reasoned.

But when nothing came of players’ private complaints, Wambach decided it was her responsibility to take action. The veteran U.S. national team forward started publicly protesting last year, bringing together fellow players to join her cause.

Now they’re poised to take the matter to court.

Safety is an issue, of course. Any soccer player can attest that turf is brutal on bodies, especially in an extended tournament like the World Cup where the days between matches are smaller and recovery time is precious.

But there’s a greater problem at the heart of Wambach’s mission: The men’s World Cup would never be played on anything but natural grass.

“We have to stand up and put our foot down, and say, ‘You know what? This isn’t good enough. This isn’t right. And we deserve to be treated equally as the men,” she said.

The movement is growing in the face of obstinance from FIFA and the Canadian Soccer Association, which will host the event in six cities next summer.

At one venue, Moncton Stadium in New Brunswick, real grass that was replaced with artificial turf earlier this year.

The CSA defers to FIFA for comment, but has maintained that artificial turf was part of the original bid for the event. Most of the stadiums that were part of the bid had turf and FIFA rules dictate the surface of their events be uniform throughout.

The president of the Canadian Soccer Association did share some comments on the matter in an address to the Vancouver Board of Trade earlier this month, saying it’s wrong to claim the issue is about discrimination.

“I will say that is the biggest form of misinformation I have ever heard in my life,” Victor Montagliani said. “Those of you who know me, know that there would be a few more adjectives before that.”

In late July, the players joined in a letter of protest to FIFA and the Canadian Soccer Association, penned by attorney Hampton Dellinger with Boies, Schiller & Flexner LLP. The players say that unless their concerns are addressed, legal action could be taken in Canada based on that country’s laws against gender-based discrimination.

While no action has been taken yet, FIFA and the CSA are clearly losing in the court of public opinion.

DeAndre Yedlin and Tim Howard, both part of the U.S. men’s team that made a run in the World Cup in Brazil this last summer, have spoken out against playing the women’s tournament on artificial turf. Non-soccer celebrities, including NBA star Kobe Bryant and Oscar winner Tom Hanks have also joined the fight via Twitter.

This week, Michelle Akers, a pioneer for the women’s game in the United States, posted the iconic photo of Brandi Chastain doffing her shirt in celebration of the U.S. victory in the 1999 World Cup.

“See this? If Brandi did that in 2015 WWC, her knees would hav 2nd degree burns from the turf,” Akers’ Twitter post read, pointing that the temperature on the field that day was 120 degrees.

Akers points out one of the many complaints about turf: When the air temperature rises, turf tends to get unbearably hot, too, because it doesn’t hold any moisture like grass.

Players also point to potential injuries because they say turf is less forgiving than grass. And the ball just plain moves differently on turf.

“People don’t understand that the feel of the surface is so important for a footballer. The ball travels on the surface our feet move on the surface — all of that goes into how the game is actually played,” Wambach said.

So far, the movement has not drawn an official FIFA comment, but Moya Dodd, a former player for the Australian national team who was voted onto the governing body’s board last year, told the BBC last week that generalizations about the quality of turf surfaces aren’t always accurate.

“Of course I have sympathy with players who want to play in the best conditions,” Dodd said. “But the important thing is to ensure that the tournament will be played in the best facilities available.”

For Wambach, and an increasing number of her fellow players, the best surface is real grass.

“Even if this World Cup doesn’t get changed over to grass,” she said, “I want to make sure that we’re loud enough and we get heard by all the countries with women fighting this fight, so that it never happens again.”

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