England Women's footballers have rightly drawn much acclaim for their spirited and gritty performances over in the World Cup held in Canada. A performance which saw them topple the previous World Cup Winners Germany to secure bronze medal and a third place finish.
The official Twitter account of the FA dropped a real clanger with their announcement that the Women's team can now get back to be being mothers partners etc, or words to that effect. Despite the tweet being withdrawn by no doubt ashen faced FA bosses, the bottom line is that this blooper was one of them moments when a light is shined into the dark and something from the depths which is not really nice pops out all of a sudden. The problem is, most people will not believe this was a genuine mistake. Most people will believe that this is the true colours of the English FA.
Getting the England Women's team on to central contracts is clearly a step in the right direction. However, the rate that the England women are being paid shows exactly how much they are appreciated by the FA. The entire England women's squads annual wages are probably still a good few thousand ££'s shy of a week's earnings for the Premier League stars
Equality in sport is important. The FA talks a good game when it comes to equality. They have a busy department employing a number of people. I wonder if they got to equality proof the tweet before it went out?
I have heard of some women football fans who go to football matches and some men, after a few beers, feel that women are fair game for a grope, or some kind of unnecessary comment about their body. This is not on and clubs need to be a bit clearer with their stance on this type of behaviour. My point here is that the FA's tweet also demonstrates a real lack of respect towards women.
The recent FA tweet shows that the time has come for some serious work to be done to help improve attitudes towards women in football. They need to get their own house in order that's for sure. Whilst banter is a huge part of football we must, as football fans, act more responsibly and avoid these types of scenarios.
Some fans will probably be thinking I am talking a load of crap; if anything I hope this article provokes a bit of a debate on the subject.
Source: DSG
