It's time for another of my occasional rants about things that are too complex for 280 characters, and quite frankly, too complex for the majority of the users I encounter on social media. This time, it's soccer!!! Well, coverage of the USWNT and their decimation of Thailand in the group stage of the 2019 Women's World Cup.
If you didn't watch the match, the US won 13-0. Alex Morgan scored FIVE GOALS all on her own. Megan Rapinoe, Carli Loyd, Lindsey Horan, Rose Lavelle, Sam Mewis, and Mallory Pugh all got in on the scoring action as well. Each time they scored, the celebrated exuberantly. They never let up.
As I am in the US, I was watching the match on FOX. The coverage was hosted by Rob Stone, Kelly Smith (former England player), Heather O'Reilly (herself a USWNT player), Ariane Hingst (former Germany player), and Alexi Lalas (former USMNT player). Immediately following the match, Rob Stone expressed disgust with the USWNT continuing to score on a hapless Thai team, going so far as to state that they should have "pulled back" and not run up the score. O'Reilly and Smith tried to argue with him, but neither was allowed to fully express her position before the coverage ended.
As is to be expected, social media erupted. The scoreline was one point of contention for many people. Another was the fact that the US players continued to celebrate their goals even as the total ticked higher and higher. Canadian broadcasters referred to the USWNT as disgraceful. Many, including former players Taylor Twellman and Julie Foudy and NBCSN Premier League commentator Arlo White, argued that the players should have "dialed back" their celebrations.
To sum up, an outrageously talented USWNT won their first match of the 2019 World Cup, but they didn't win it exactly the way some people wanted them to because they scored too many goals and celebrated too much.
Is anyone else starting to detect some sexism in what they're hearing?
I have problems with this coverage, needless to say. First of all, the idea that they should have held back on the number of goals they scored is absurd. Goal differential is the tie breaker in the group stage of the World Cup. In the event of a tie in the standings, the team that scored more goals will move on. Racking up as many goals as possible is a means of supporting your ability to move out of the group stage. It's also ridiculous to argue that 5 or 6 goals would have been enough to pad the goal differential. In the same group as the USWNT is Sweden, the 2016 Olympic Silver Medal team. They play Thailand next. Sweden is capable of scoring at will on Thailand as well. The point of working so hard to get to the World Cup is to try to win it, so scoring as many goals as one possibly can is not, as Joe Prince-Wright of NBC Sports argued, a lack of compassion.
Compassion. When I saw that word in Prince-Wright's article this morning, I almost had a rage aneurysm. Why is it that people expect women to show compassion in a sports competition when they would in no way require the same of a men's team? When Germany beat Brazil 7-1 in the Semifinals of the 2014 men's World Cup, was there an uproar about Germany needing to show compassion? I'm going to go with no.
So, we expect women to be the best at what they do, but at the same time, not display exactly how good they are because that's not nice or compassionate.
And heaven forbid that they act like they're having fun or experiencing joy while they're being the best at what they do.
Even more enraging than the whole number of goals scored argument is the idea that the USWNT should have dialed back their celebrations. To me, this is a classic example of people (and especially men) policing women's emotions and how they express them.
Imagine that since you were a child (in some cases as young as three years old), you've worked your heart out with the goal of someday maybe getting to play in a World Cup. You sacrificed time with your friends and family to practice and play in tournaments. You worked hard to get a scholarship to play in college, which requires you to make more sacrifices to balance school and athletic obligations. Your professional soccer opportunities are limited to a rather poorly-run league in the US that plays its matches on substandard pitches and pays its players pitifully or moving to Europe to play in a league that is only marginally better off than your domestic league. You make the National Team, but US Soccer pays you substantially less than the men's team, despite the fact that you win more, draw bigger crowds, and are regularly one of the top-ranked teams in the world (the men are decidedly NOT top-ranked). The World Cup is your biggest stage and the very top of the accomplishments that you could achieve in your soccer career.
Now imagine getting there and actually scoring a goal.
If you're being honest with yourself, how would you react? Would you be calm? Would your focus be on the other team and how they might be feeling at that moment?
Lavelle, Mewis, Horan, and Pugh scored goals in their very first World Cup matches yesterday. Are they supposed to not celebrate something they've dreamed of for their entire lives?
Alex Morgan scored FIVE GOALS. Five. Goals. In a World Cup match. No matter who your opponent is, that is incredible. How many opportunities does a person get to score five goals on the biggest stage in their game? Should she not be proud of herself?
Megan Rapinoe is playing in her third World Cup after coming back from a torn ACL. She's 33 years old, very possibly playing in her last World Cup. Should she not express joy at scoring in a World Cup? (Also, don't think for a second that the extra backlash Rapinoe is getting has nothing to do with her advocacy work on equal pay, LGBTQ rights, and her support of Colin Kaepernick.)
Carli Lloyd is about to turn 37 years old, playing in her fourth World Cup. As an about-to-be-39-year-old myself, she has earned every scream, leap, and hug she gave in that moment.
This criticism of how and how much these women expressed joy, excitement, and the pay off of hard work reeks of sexism. All women are familiar with this because it happens even to those of us who are not public figures competing on a world stage. If you've ever been told to smile by a stranger because your neutral face isn't happy enough, you've been there. If you've ever been told that telling people about your accomplishments means you're bragging or being unladylike, you've been there. If you've ever been called a bitch for how you express yourself, you've been there.
Compare the backlash against the USWNT to a recent example of a male athlete expressing emotion in a high stakes moment. A couple weeks ago, Tottenham Hotspur lost to Liverpool (ugh) in the Champions League final. As is standard, Spurs were given runners-up medals after the match before the trophy presentation. Spurs (and England) captain Harry Kane, with a mixture of anger, disappointment, and sadness on his face, took his medal off of his neck the second he walked away from the UEFA official who put it on him. This is not unusual behavior. It happens enough that I frequently wonder why they even bother with runners-up medals. That being said, it doesn't seem like particularly "sportsmanlike" (ugh) behavior. Second place in the Champions League isn't anything to sniff at -- you have to beat some of the best clubs in the world to even make it to the final -- but Harry Kane was CLEARLY unhappy with the outcome. His emotions were out there for all to see. I haven't seen a single criticism of Kane's emotional display and I pay a lot (probably too much) attention to football media in the UK and the US. Why is it ok for Harry Kane to express emotion on the pitch (and act like his medal was an insult), but it's not acceptable for Alex Morgan to celebrate scoring five goals in a World Cup match? Sexism is why.
I'm tired of having to point this stuff out and also of having to deal with the fallout of calling it out (see my Twitter for what happens when a woman dares to express an opinion that makes some men slightly uncomfortable). But I'm going to keep doing it until I don't see it anymore. In the meantime, I have a challenge for anyone who is reading this. When you're watching the World Cup and you see an athlete do something that you want to criticize, ask yourself first, "Would I be criticizing this behavior if the person doing it was a man instead of a woman?" If the answer is no, shut up. If the answer is yes, make sure you're being honest with yourself.
