#women's football can't be used for sportswashing

[pensat-i-fet]

Listen, the Spanish Federation that applauded Rubiales' speech (until they realised it wasn't the 1950's and people were mad at them for doing so) just told the women who were SEXUALLY HARASSED after the Real Madrid-Mallorca match that they got it wrong. They weren't sexually harassed. They don't know what that is. It was just people being a bit annoying...

Lord please give me the patience and the sedatives to calm down so I don't burn the Federation down. Being touched without your consent is sexual harassment, being asked how much you charge for sex is sexual harassment, men taking photos of your butt without your consent is sexual harassment. Trying to gaslit victims telling them they weren't really harassed is abuse.

And no, the women's Supercup won't be played in Saudi Arabia. Because the women have the balls the men lack to say NO. Because not everything can be justified with "but they pay a lot of money". And many players have already told journalists privately they'll refuse to play.

I dream of the day when the male players have the morals the women players already have. It'll remain a dream for a very long time.

[ashleighneville]

Your Hatters tags on the archive post were so cool! There’s definitely a project for someone to use the National Media Museum photo archives to write more people that aren’t white cis men back into English football history

Yes!! Particularly if it could be done in combination with oral history. Honestly i find the social history of football absolutely fascinating. I'm going to yell about it below the read more because honestly i just think it's so important that when football is being increasingly controlled by money which is concentrated in a small number of clubs that people remember the importance of community and communities to football (and that those communities has always included women and minorities)

My grandad is very much more invested in social side of football than the sport itself so most of his stories have very little to do with actual football and are far more focused on people. He talks about the rover's player who lived up the road or his dad having the sports paper sent down from Wigan and sending them info on a Yeovil player they were interested in. Even when they are a bit more football focused it's his dad's adventures in getting tickets to the famous Yeovil vs Sunderland match in 1949 and the back up goalie who was forced to play and barely played again. I feel so much closer to my grandad since getting into football because we have something to talk about and bond over and it's really really lovely.

And then you have the geographic (and subsequently demographic) aspect. I've never been more aware of my locality since getting into football: my family's migrational history (both that 3/4 of my grandparents aren't English and the only familial connection with football i have is through my English grandfather but also movement within England), the difference in culture between the west country and the rest of England (i.e the preference for rugby over football which kind of reflects the relationship between wales and the west country and the greater presence of like celtic culture in the area even if it's not actually linked) and just being from my side of Bristol because the rivalry here is geographic. Nicknames are often reflective of local culture, industry and history (Bristol rovers are the pirates for example but we're also known as the gas because our old stadium was right by a gasworks and the smell carried into the stadium.) I'd be fascinated to know why there are comparatively so many west country clubs called the robins, whether it's a coincidence or what.

But you've also got things like Spurs' Jewish connection. i think it would be quite difficult to detangle spurs from a (particularly social) history of the Jewish community in North London and of course vice versa you can't talk about the history of spurs without talking about the Jewish community in north london. I'm sure football would feature very heavily in the history of many other communities as well, I think Arsenal have had a large Black following for example. Just the fact that football is a working class sport and even today the majority of footballers come from a working class background. Then you also have, particularly across europe, political and class aspects in rivalries like Barça v real madrid and celtic v rangers. Even things like Manchester vs Liverpool has it's own history that goes beyond yet very much includes football.

It's one of the reasons i hate trophy logic and debates on whose a big club and man city has no history because while it's obviously a competitive sport and there is a conversation to be had about money and sportswashing, a club doesn't have to be big or traditionally successful to have history and value and importance and yes success. And i don't think that community and big clubs are incompatible and while I would encourage all football fans to engage with their local clubs, i think the whole support your local thing is overly simplistic to say the least (particularly when employed by prem fans) and doesn't actually address the issue people want it to which is that particularly big clubs are pricing out fans both local and not

If you could gather people's stories and memories of football you can create such a rich tapestry of football culture and history but even just having proof that people who have had their own history and relationship with football erased and banished allows space for these things to be discussed and acknowledged

[mchiti]

'Sometimes not even that deep down' honestly between the qatar world cup and saudi sportswashing discourse, it's kind of shocking how comfortable and bold football fans are being with their anti-arab racism. and most of them are people who consider themselves to be progressive. it makes me wonder if it has just lain dormant in them for the past two decades and now they have an 'acceptable' context in which to let it all out. icl it's kind of triggering sometimes lol and makes being an online football seem seem like less of a safe space. it's one of the reasons why i honestly want to stop being online. some of these people probably have known zero arabs in their lives and are making blanket statements about arabs based on what they have learnt about sportswashing on twitter like "oh saudis don't respect women!" like okay do you even know any? as a woman walking alone at night you'd be safer on a saudi arabian street than your average european or american one probably. hdjdfskdf sorry for ranting but as always you get it

it's islamophobia anon. It's real and literally the majority of non muslim don't give a single shit about, I'm sorry if I'm so straightforward but it's true. We cancel muslim players all the time when they do something problematic as aboukhlal has been canceled and that's because us muslims in the first place feel all the pressure to distance ourselves all the time and it gets so tiring. All the players who showed support to depay's post or even made their own delirious post, how long the outrage lasted? they are all back onto my dashboard. I just don't understand the double standards and it's real, it's not something my mind is making up like.

They consider themselves progressive until it's time to call out their own bullshit. Like the way psg is treating mbappé is not an excuse for you to shit on non western countries. Do I think he has all the right to leave free agent and respect his own contract? absolutely, what are contracts even there for otherwise? but like, do they follow football, clubs don't like to lose footballers for free, and all clubs get mad if they don't get their own players to renew. and it's mbappé we're talking about lol. Sometimes they get their players to renew so they don't leave for free - which I'm not saying it's right, I'm saying it's not about mena doing business lol. Do people think that football is ruined now that Saudi is stepping their game up? Only now? I live in a western country that has chronically dealt with scandals and corruption every couple of years even back in time when top clubs were managed by rich italians. What Saudi is doing now - it's a reflection of what has been done in europe since the second half of the last century. Sure there are bigger amount of money involved now and sure it's upsetting, but I don't like and I don't accept that people are now waking up about it when a non western country is trying to get the spotlight too. Like you're not even trying to hide it are you. Nah sis I just can't deal with this

[rnodric]

i hate **** bc some of their fans are so exhausting to talk to. it's a known fact they're owned by a holding company almost 80% owned by a private equity company literally owned by a member of abu dhabi's royal family AND LITERAL MINISTER OF PRESIDENTIAL AFFAIRS. this dude isn't a random rich guy. he's a politician with very real power in a country that's been repeatedly flagged by groups like hrw and amnesty for rights abuses against women, lgbt people, anyone who criticises the govt etc etc. they are, for every intent and purpose, a proxy of that govt. it's also been repeatedly credibly reported that **** have a string of dubious ties/'sponsorships' riddled with nepotism issues (tariq panja and adam crafton are both journalists who've written articles about this). none of it is 'rumours' or anything - it's all substantiated facts that can be traced back in financial records and documents.

it's not their supporters fault they got taken over and that this happens. they're free to support who they want, just like i do with rm. but i've had one too many arguments with some of them who try to defend their ownership and suggest that any of the concerns i point out are just because i'm 'jealous of their success', 'jealous that their owners care about the club'. no. it's not. i literally point out **** as another one of the string of highly dubious takeovers like *******, ***, and now *********, all of which are equally problematic. you're not the only club to have awful owners, but i've never met as many fans of those other clubs (except maybe the last one) who defend them as much as you do. (btw the club's management/ownership isn't you lol you don't need to defend the successful sportswashing going on)

them choosing to splash 100m on ******** isn't a problem. i don't care what they do with the money they have. it's their unwillingness to acknowledge that they have substantial issues with where their money that allows them to build their success comes from (bc some of us can't spend a few hundred million over like 4 yrs trying to find decent defenders and there's only 1 club that has a worse net spend record over the past 10 seasons which really says something about how they're doing their buying/selling) and then repeatedly try to say that 'oh other clubs are messed up too so they can't complain!!' that is incredibly irritating. it's not a question of throwing rocks even though you live in a glass house - what is needed is critique of everyone who flouts rules and does dubious things, not just letting everyone get off scot free bc 'oh we're all equally awful'.

before anyone sees this and complains: rm is owned by very lovely everyday people who are our socios, feel free to find problems with all 60k+ of them <3

football is both cursed and blessed with those kind of owners because they make it possible to make dream transfers which for some fans is fantastic and of course it gains publicity etc but it's horrible to think about the underlying issues and toxic environments these same owners are creating. for me personally anything emirati is instantly a red flag because those rich bastards only have one thing in mind and that is making more money no whatever what and as u said it's no longer just rumours it's facts. it ruins football because smaller and less fortunate teams are drowning in debt and sometimes the only thing saving them is selling their valuable players to the likes of c*ty etc. and yes real madrid also has their own issues and this is not only about c*ty but as a madridista i know my club has those issues and i don't support it but c*ty fans are obnoxious for the most part and will run after u if u speak ill of them.