The FA appears to have scored a spectacular own goal after posting on the England Twitter account that the women’s team, who won bronze at the World Cup in Canada, could “go back to being mothers, partners and daughters” now that they have returned home.
The account, which has a following of nearly 1.2m, is managed by the FA and has been supportive of England’s women during their World Cup campaign but following the posting of the tweet at just after 1pm BST, it was widely criticised on social media for appearing to portray them as something other than simply athletes.
England arrived at Heathrow on Monday morning after a series of excellent performances that saw them finish third. Interest from the media and the public swelled hugely over the tournament, which has raised both awareness of and enthusiasm for the women’s game, something that many hope will be replicated in the English domestic game, the Women’s Super League.
The tweet, which has been deleted, was taken from an article published on the FA website, which has also been amended to omit the mention of England’s players as “mothers, partners and daughters.”
The FA insisted the tweet was taken out of context: “The full story was a wider homecoming feature attempting to reflect the many personal stories within the playing squad as has been told throughout the course of the tournament.
“However, we understand that an element of the story appears to have been taken out of context and the opening paragraph was subsequently revised to reflect that fact.”
Many took to social media to convey their anger at the tweet.
That FA tweet is brillant:"Look how totally not sexist we are to all these dollybirds! Look how much our attitudes toward quim has changed!"
— Rufus Hound (@RufusHound) July 6, 2015
@DoctorT1992 @england our own twitter here, reinforcing the divide between the male & female versions of the sport
— Macca (@bigmacca199) July 6, 2015
Exactly. We don't hear that the men's team have gone back to being fathers, partners, sons. Get a grip, @england @fleetstreetfox
— Emma (@Auwyn_) July 6, 2015
James Callow, the content editor at the FA, later took to his own personal Twitter feed to apologise. “Sorry if I caused offence. The piece is intended to sum up a nice moment when players are reunited with their families,” he posted. “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.”
