As football fans gear up to watch the World Cup semi-final tonight between England and Croatia, a sexist explanation of the “offside rule for girls” is being widely shared to the dismay of women.
The post was shared by Love Island star Amber Davies on Twitter with the caption “Oh my days why haven’t I seen this earlier. NOW I UNDERSTAND,” and has since gone viral.
Written on a pink background, the explainer compares offside players to women shopping in a store - to apparently make it easier for women to understand.
Because there are obviously no female football fans, and women only understand complex sports rules when they're compared with concepts more at their level, the analogy explains that being offside is like skipping in front of someone in a queue for the till.
As a reminder, the post also informs women that “until the purse has left your mates hands, it would be wrong to push in front of the other girl,” which would constitute being “offside.”
The misguided stereotypically-gendered explanation has garnered criticism from both men and women.
“Whoever put that theory together with that title is rather sexist! Why would you assume a girl doesn't know the offside rule? And why would you assume every guy does?” one woman asked.
Another sarcastically said: “Thank god whoever did this made the background pink to grab the attention of me (a woman). I would have gone my whole life without knowing what offside was despite playing soccer for ten years. Phew.”
Others pointed out a more effective way to explain the rule would be by using football - as it should be explained.
According to Fifa, the offside rule is when a player receives the ball and is nearer to the opponents' goal line than both the ball and second last opponent.
