'Long way to go' in tackling social media discrimination - Cambridgeshire female footballers
We've been hearing from players who've faced the issue
Last updated 19th Dec 2024
Female footballers in Cambridgeshire who've been a victim of discrimination on the pitch say they've also faced the issue on social media.
In its strategy for 2024-28, the Cambridgeshire FA wants to "use social media and other communication channels to strengthen messaging on behaviours and promote examples of best practice" in a bid to tackle poor behaviour within the local game.
Lauren Webb, who plays for Cambridge United Women, has been subjected to homophobic and sexist comments in person and online, including from young children.
"A lot of the time if you look at their profiles, it isn't anyone that you know, it's just a bot or someone that has a fake profile," she said.
"I just choose to ignore it, but if there's a young girl out there that sees it, they might not feel the same so it's definitely out there."
Rise in sexism and misogyny
The FA says it has seen "significant increases" in the number of female players involved in football.
But in its own anti-discrimination strategy for the next four years, the governing body said there's been a 44% rise in reports of sexism and misogyny within English football.
Lauren told Greatest Hits Radio she has had to concentrate more so when hearing discrimination.
"You have to continue to focus on your game and focus on it so much more than you would in a normal game, for instance you can't react to any of the fans because that'll just goad them on," she said.
"I can flip it and make it a positive experience where if we are in a situation like that, we've got to educate.
"I'll challenge those people who think that way (being discriminatory) and be like 'no, that's not okay'; you can't dwell on it, you have to move forward."
Campaign against discrimination
Lauren, alongside teammate Alysha Stojko-Down, backs the Her Game Too campaign to try and stamp out misogyny in women's football.
In terms of social media, Alysha believes comments and messages towards women and girls are a regular theme from fans of the game.
"It's more generalised comments about being women in football and 'you're not very good', even though they don't know anything about you, so we see that a lot," she said.
"There are historic biases, women face discrimination every day so for that to feed into sport isn't unexpected."
In the last two years, the Cambridgeshire FA has received just one official case of discrimination against a female player.
'Proving them wrong'
Cambridge City Women player Jade Barrett started playing football at six-years-old and has been at her current club for around two years.
She's not unfamiliar with negative social media comments towards female footballers, but hopes this barrier can be overcome.
"You get a lot of comments like 'if a man was in goal, he'd save that' so it's still got a long way to go," Jade said.
"But the fact we've got that platform to use now is a positive thing, I think it's only going to keep growing."
Jade believes once a female player has "proved them wrong", attitudes towards women's and girls' football can change.
Jade's teammate Erin Burling has been at Cambridge City Women for 11 years and feels there is a challenge to help continue the growth of the female game.
"It will always, to an extent, be there but it's about how the younger generation are brought up," she said.
"So they're brought up in order to not look at the women's game as lesser than the men's because that is the attitude of the past."
The FA is aiming to "raise awareness of discriminatory behaviour in grassroots football" to help encourage more incidents to be reported.