Seriously — I want to know.
My brother used to play football for a junior professional side. I didn’t go to many matches, but I always used to enjoy watching international games. But somewhere over the course of the last few years, I’ve come to loathe football with a fiery passion.
Partly, it’s living near Arsenal, seeing how much money the owners of the huge Emirates stadium and the players make, but virtually no evidence of any of that money going back into the community (or doing something about rush hour tube travel on a match night).
Partly, it’s hearing stories such as the one which emerged the other week — the chief executive of the Premier League wants a crackdown on the abuse of match officials by players and managers. Because apparently, although they are all grown men, they are completely incapable of working out for themselves that it’s unacceptable to abuse someone for doing their job.
Partly, it’s picking up tabloid papers and reading that yet another footballer has cheated on his wife. Or that Richard Keys and Andy Gray still have jobs as pundits after making a mockery of a female ref. Or hearing a spokeswoman for the Football Supporters’ Federation talking about the thrill of feeling like the ‘twelfth man on the pitch’, which might not seem like a big deal, but actually, when I heard her talking on BBC Breakfast this morning, I thought ‘twelfth man’…why do you want to support a sport that makes absolutely no room for you or your gender anywhere, not even in its language, unless you’re prepared to be a WAG?
I can’t get past any of that anymore, and the more we celebrate a game that at its upper echelons has become an excuse for overpaid underperformance, let alone rampant misogony, the more sick I feel.
So, someone tell me. How can any women enjoy football anymore? Since it’s not going away, I’d genuinely like to know.
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