When the US women’s national team pulled out of a recent game in Hawaii in protest at subpar pitch conditions, it seemed as though it should’ve never reached that point. It seemed the standards of playing surfaces for the tour should’ve been spelled out beforehand – but they weren’t.

But with the terms surrounding a collective bargaining agreement between the USWNT and the federation set to expire later this year, there may be new opportunity to ensure the players and US Soccer are on the same page.

Rich Nichols, the attorney representing the women’s national team union, declined to discuss the specifics of negotiations, but told the Guardian several times: “They are not playing on artificial turf. Period.”

“It shouldn’t need to be a topic we even have to discuss,” Nichols added. “If there is modicum of respect and concern for the health and safety of the women’s national team, we shouldn’t even need to have one second of discussion about safe playing surfaces.

“It should be a foregone conclusion, and a natural obligation for the US soccer federation to make sure the women play on safe grass playing surfaces just like the men play on safe grass playing surfaces.”

US Soccer does have a history of putting matches for the men’s national team on grass, even when they play at venues with artificial turf. In some cases, the men and women have played in the same venue recently, yet the men played on temporary grass while the women played on the turf.

A US Soccer spokesman declined the Guardian’s request for comment, but the federation has previously denied that there is an agreement for the men to only play on grass. US Soccer president Sunil Gulati suggested the men may play on artificial turf this year, even though the federation hasn’t put a men’s match on artificial turf since at least 2005.

When the women’s team boycotted their friendly last month against Trinidad & Tobago in Hawaii, it renewed controversy that had been lingering from the Women’s World Cup. The women played the tournament on artificial turf for the first time despite men never doing so. After USA became world champions, US Soccer scheduled eight of 10 victory tour matches on artificial turf, and the field in Hawaii hadn’t been inspected beforehand – which US Soccer later admitted was an oversight.

“That was the straw that broke the camel’s back,” Nichols said. “The lack of basic respect for them – they were just tired of it.”

He added: “They’ve had to endure second-class citizenship under the offices of US Soccer for many years. They’ve suffered injuries from playing on turf all these years. They’ve sucked it up and said: ‘We’re gonna do it for the good of the cause.’ But there comes a time when you can’t take it any more.”

The 10-game victory tour – the one that fueled the debate over different playing surfaces – was in the contract as part of the team’s collective bargaining agreement. A portion of the tour’s ticket sales revenue goes directly to the players. (Their shared cut from the first two games of the victory tour was around $70,000.)

Another unique component of their contract is the terms that allow them to be paid salaries by US Soccer for playing in the National Women’s Soccer League. Although Gulati has said players are required to play in the NWSL as part of their contracts, Nichols denies that, and said each player individually chooses to play in the league. Again, US Soccer declined to comment.

When the national team’s CBA expired in 2012, they agreed to a memorandum of understanding that continued the terms of the expired contract with added provisions covering the NWSL. Nichols, who took over last year, could not comment on why a new agreement was never reached. The team’s former attorney, John Langel, deferred questions from the Guardian to their current representation.

The NWSL is operated by US Soccer, but is owned by the league’s 10 clubs, and in the 2016 season, artificial turf will be used in half the venues. The quality of venues varies, from Providence Park, where the Portland Timbers of MLS play, to facilities used by college teams, and in years past, high school teams.

Nichols said the players have raised concerns privately, but he hinted the players are more willing to accept a lower standard of pitches in the NWSL compared to international matches.

“There’s a push for higher quality standards of venues in the NWSL, but the women in the national team have been very conciliatory in dealing with subpar conditions,” he said. “They’ve been willing to turn their cheek and accept it. They make their feelings known – which they do every year about some of the substandard conditions that prevail at almost all the venues in the NWSL – but they are willing to absorb that for the betterment of the league.”

“They have sacrificed greatly to compete and play in the NWSL and they didn’t have to.”

The NWSL has seen the quality of its venues increase since the league was founded in 2013. Most recently, the Chicago Red Stars announced they would move their home field from the artificial turf of Benedictine University – which was plagued with American football lines, shallow goals and poorly positioned bleacher seating – to Toyota Park, where the Chicago Fire play. The new venue is also natural grass.

The league has minimum pitch standards and re-evaluates them every year, said NWSL spokesman Patrick Donnelly.

“We’re aware that there are certain areas we need to improve and every season we’re trying to take steps forward both on the field and off the field,” he told the Guardian. “We’re not going to fix everything overnight but we’re going to be looking to review and improve. It’s important for us to get feedback from the players and to know what’s important to them.”

The national team players, to be sure, have the most clout in asking for changes and, without a players’ union for the NWSL, they may also be the leading voice in quality issues. But a new collective bargaining agreement with US Soccer is the immediate priority.

If contract negotiations do stall, the best hint of what could happen comes from 2005, when the US men’s team went on strike and nearly skipped a World Cup qualifier against Trinidad & Tobago. With talks deadlocked, US Soccer brought in replacement players for camp in case their starting players would not be available. A deal was reached in time, but one of the replacements, Clyde Simms, who had been playing in the lower-division USL, impressed the US coaches and was asked to stay with the national team, a turning point in his career.

The Matildas of Australia pulled out of a pair of US victory tour matches in September due to contract disputes their federation. The players were being paid less than minimum wage and rejected an offer to see their pay increased from $21,000 to $23,000 AUD (about $15,000 to $16,000 in USD), far less than their male counterparts.

Nichols said he is confident both sides will agree to terms and a new collective bargaining agreement will be signed when the current deal expires at the end of the year. The memorandum of understanding that’s in place is not enough for the players, he said, and won’t be acceptable in the future.

“In my view, there is nothing definitive that helps guide the working conditions for the women on the national team and in the NWSL,” he said.

He and the US women’s national team have another 11 months to try to fix that.