Misguided FA tweet welcomes England women's World Cup team back 'to being mothers, partners and daughters'
A single tweet from the Football Association following the England women's team embarking on the nation’s most successful World Cup campaigns since the 1966 win has riled social media users.
A tweet from @England, the FA’s official account, stated that after the campaign, the players could go back to "being mothers, partners and daughters".
The social media reaction was mostly negative – before the post was removed from the FA website and Twitter with some stating that such a comment would not have been attributed to the men's team.
For one event paradigmatic of the discrimination the English women overcame, hard to beat *their own FA* not recognizing them as athletes.
— Michael Caley (@MC_of_A) July 6, 2015
The ironic thing about the FA #Lionesses tweet is that women could just concentrate on being footballers if they were better paid.
— Mark Samuels (@mark_samuels) July 6, 2015
For those of you wondering what twitter would have looked like in the 50s, @england has helpfully obliged #Lionesses pic.twitter.com/loQJFPQDV3
— Lee Jenkins (@Lee_T_Jenkins) July 6, 2015
Our #lionesses go back to being professional footballers today, but the FA will always be a bunch of blundering bellends.
— Eddie Robson (@EddieRobson) July 6, 2015
Funny, I thought they were coming back to be footballers. WSL starts back up at the weekend. #Lionesses https://t.co/CIPsgNaBRP
— Unity (@Unity_MoT) July 6, 2015
I'll be honest I've said some sexist things about the women's world cup but the English FA just outdid me pic.twitter.com/z28u2FWIHI
— Matthew Foran (@ForanThoughts) July 6, 2015
Surprised the FA haven't used this as their new official information film after their Womens World Cup tweet earlier http://t.co/7ixAPibkP0
— John Bradley (@JBcommentator) July 6, 2015
RT @FA: Lionesses families delighted to welcome home their heroes, having not had any proper dinner since World Cup started.
— Rufus Hound (@RufusHound) July 6, 2015
I had assumed the FA meant that our women's football team was made up of amateurs and they were home and going back to their "day jobs".
— Rob Clarke (@ahremsee) July 6, 2015
James Callow, who wrote the FA piece the comment was taken from, denied accusations of sexism, adding that "human interest is a big part of any sport reporting".
He concluded he would have given the men’s team the same coverage.
The incident goes to show how quickly a single tweet can quickly spiral out of control. The FA unceremoniously deleted the tweet 45 minutes after posting it.