Williams demands end of fat-shaming in women’s game

ENGLAND legend Fara Williams has called on women’s football to tackle the worrying level of eating disorders among players and revealed that top clubs openly use terms like ‘fat club’.

Williams, who retired last year, opened up on her own experiences, saying she often felt ‘uncomfortable’ during international camps and would be left ‘starving’ after restricting her food intake.

Her comments come after the first academic study to explore the prevalence of mental health issues among top female players in England found that 36 per cent of the 115 participants displayed symptoms of an eating disorder.

‘It was something that I was concerned about as a player,’ said Williams. ‘It was very uncomfortable for me at times because I like food, I like to eat but you felt as though you couldn’t eat certain foods because you were being watched.

‘I hated meal times. I used to just have scrambled eggs for breakfast, I’d be starving. But then you’re thinking you’ve got to go on to the pitch, I’ve got to go and train on a little bit of scrambled egg. Because you feel like you’re being watched.’ Williams (left), who is England’s most-capped player with 172 appearances, said players need to be better educated and supported by clubs.

‘It’s not right that we just talk about being a certain body-fat percentage, that’s not educating people. Or you get a fat test every time you go into camp and if you’re not under a certain percentage you go into “fat club”.

‘To label something “fat club” as a professional is crazy. I was never in fat club, I would never go, I would just not play the game.

‘It was a term openly used at big clubs in the WSL. It’s something I spoke about for years with managers at the top level because I’ve always disagreed with how the body fat percentage has been used, especially with women.’

Williams also said she was aware of younger players who had been put off from going to international camps.

‘You do hear of young players not wanting to go away to the national team,’ said the 38-yearold former midfielder. ‘When I was at Reading, some of the girls that were in the underage group didn’t want to go away.

‘When I’ve been at Everton as a young coach, some players didn’t want to go away to the national team.

‘It is a big problem, it is something that needs dealing with. We’re talking about being a role model and you’re feeling that way as somebody that is the role model for these younger players looking up to you, it’s worrying.’