Sexism On Soccer Twitter Has Reached New Level Of Idiocy

On Saturday, Dele Alli scored a wonder goal for Tottenham in the Premier League. It was a stunner and one that will be on highlight reels for the rest of the season. Of course the minute someone compared it to the Stephanie Roche goal that was up for the FIFA goal of the year last season, the sexism started. At some point one would think that moronic replies to a tweet would stop, but soccer twitter continues to set new lows.

I am very much enjoying all the people saying they have never seen a goal like Dele Alli https://t.co/kY5WeKrNeL

— Sarah (@DasGherkin) January 23, 2016

Some of the replies to the tweet containing video of the Roche goal included “Woman’s football doesn’t count” and “that’s because women’s football is irrelevant.” That first one has a misspelling on purpose because the reply showed the clear ignorance of the trolls that continue to ignore the quality of the women’s game. Others tried to compare the level of football at which the goals were scored. The degree of difficulty was at an insane level regardless of when the goal was scored. Both were scored in a club match at the highest level in England. 

Do female voices make you uncomfortable? Good. Because progress has never started at a comfortable place.

— Sarah Lerner (@SarahLerner) January 23, 2016

The sexist tweets came on a day when the USWNT was back in action. Carli Lloyd, the best female player in the world, netted a hat trick in the first half, and 17-year-old Mallory Pugh scored a goal in her international debut. This came just a little over a month after the team cancelled a game because a playing surface was dangerous and Abby Wambach partially turned her attention to fighting for equality in the sport.

Juggle over a defender, spin, volley. 🔥🔥🔥 doesn’t even do justice to this @Dele_Alli goal: https://t.co/e1EZKlDOTj

— NBC Sports (@NBCSports) January 23, 2016

Alli deserves credit for his tally, but so does Roche. It is pathetic that a simple tweet can result in moronic replies full of sexism rather than giving credit for the technique on the ball. Unfortunately, it seems that anytime support is shown to women’s soccer there are replies that set back equality. It is discouraging and frustrating. Let’s just hope that it can only get better from this point.