Lionesses’ fans cry foul over the FA’s sexist Twitter gaffe
IN the run-up to the Women’s World Cup, the Football Association insisted the sport had just as much skill and excitement as the men’s game.
And the millions poured into women’s football and FA efforts to promote equality certainly paid off as England’s Lionesses powered their way to a recordbreaking third place.
But yesterday all that hard work was diminished – by a single tweet from the FA itself.
Marking the triumphant return of the England women’s team from the World Cup in Canada, the FA’s England account put out a rather unfortunate message.
It read: ‘Our Lionesses go back to being mothers, partners and daughters today, but they have taken on another title – heroes.’
Critics on Twitter immediately lambasted football’s governing body for ‘patronising’ the team with attitudes that belong in the ‘Victorian’ era.
One user said: ‘FA’s sexist tweet about England women’s team is
‘Chauvinistic culture’
just a glimpse of the chauvinistic culture that dominates the game.’
Another claimed the FA had scored an ‘own goal’. ‘Do male players go back to being fathers and husbands?’ he asked.
A third commentator even more scathing, writing: ‘As opposed to the Lions going back to overpaid adulterers, holidayers and hair product models?’
England’s Lionesses finished behind Japan and the US in the tournament, and just ahead of Germany, who they beat for the first time. It was England’s best World Cup performance since 1966.
The FA’s tweet to its 1.1million followers also included a web link to an online article about the Lionesses’s homecoming and their everyday lives.
Yesterday afternoon the offending tweet had been deleted. But the man who wrote it, the FA’s content editor James Callow, nevertheless defended his position. Writing on his personal account, Mr Callow said: ‘I reject any accusation of sexism, and human interest is a big part of any sport reporting. I’d have done the same for England men, absolutely.’ He added: ‘Sorry if I caused offence. The piece is intended to sum up a nice moment when players are reunited with their families.’