In the midst of the triumphs and backing for both the Matildas and women’s sports following the recent FIFA Women’s World Cup, a football club in South Australia has succeeded in uncovering a negative perspective.
The blemish on Tillie’s triumph came in the form of an article published in last week’s newsletter of the Murray Bridge Imperial Football Club.
The opinion piece titled ‘Exploring the State of Women’s Soccer.’
The passage extracted from ‘Mitch’s Musings’ has ignited significant criticism from both the sports community and women’s advocacy groups.
The editor, whose identities as ‘Mitch’, has sparked turmoil within the club due to the inclusion of highly provocative statements in the article.
“Albo ya big flog teasing us with a PH. Debatable whether women should be playing prime time on a Wednesday night” quotes from the writer,
“Who is meant to clean the kitchen? Uber Eats woulda been busy.”
While persistently undermining the endeavors of Australia’s women’s team even including some aimed at Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, ‘Mitch’ proceeded to acknowledge the competence of the competition’s officials.
“One of them do a better job than 4 AFL umpires and they don’t hand out yellow cards for fun like they do in our league” they wrote.
“Give me a spell. Prob won’t be back next year.”
One of the many voices reaching out in annoyance at the ‘old school’ article was Nowra based soccer media personality, Jacob Malby. Mr Malby is concerned that this article could hinder the expansion of viewership in the sport, as individuals from outside the sport may now be less motivated to make an effort to watch.
“An incredibly sexist comment for no reason. It’s not even funny, as he was clearly going for.” Jacob spoke out,
“it’s going to negatively affect people’s view on females in sport. This guy clearly has some following or respect for whatever reason and when someone reads this and it agrees with their existing sexist views,
“It will only act to hurt interest in women’s sport despite it being great fun to watch and experience” He continued,
In a comment towards the ABC, Club President, Jack Daniels admitted that roughly ten copies were mistakenly handed out despite general opinion of the article’s content being inappropriate.
Daniels concluded, hoping to bring an end to a controversy that has shrouded the club in disarray.