Girl footballers told 'get back in the kitchen'

Young female footballers say they continue to face a barrage of sexist abuse, including being told to "get back in the kitchen" on social media.

The teenagers, who play for a team in Birmingham, said they were often mocked and belittled.

Social media posts showing girls scoring goals or training also triggered abuse from trolls, they said.

England and Aston Villa midfielder Jordan Nobbs said although the female game had come a long way, sexism was still out there.

She said it needed to be discussed and stopped at source.

It comes as BBC analysis has found there are now twice as many registered female football teams in England as there were seven years ago.

Bournville player Lara, 17, said she had received all kinds of comments online such as "get back to the kitchen" and "women’s football is so hard to watch it hurts".

One TikTok post of her teammates scoring and inviting people to say who they would pick as a striker triggered a response saying they were rubbish and another saying "any boys on the team? If not then no".

She said: "[Boys my age look at women's football] like something that's a joke, something that can just be mocked… it's just not the same at all.

"When I was posting on social media, the comments would be like 'women are rubbish they belong in the kitchen'."

She added: "It makes me feel like there's no point because I'll never be looked at the same and it will never be the same."

Another player, aged 16, said: "If you tell a boy you play football they'll give you a quiz.

"They'll say 'what's the offside rule?' 'who's England's top goal scorer?'

"They'll offer you out one v one… if you do it they'll go too rough on you to try and embarrass you."

A survey of 371 people by the not-for-profit organisation Her Game Too found 91.9% had seen sexist abuse online aimed at women in football. Almost 60% said they had experienced it in a football ground or pub.

Villa midfielder Nobbs said she had had to deal with sexism when she was growing up.

She said: "I played in an all-girls team in an all-boys league. It wasn't normal then… people saying you're not good enough, it's a men's game."

She added: "[Sexism) has definitely got better. I definitely hear less about it now but we don't want to take away that it's still out there and we need to be stopping it at source."

Emily Drakeley, co-founder and director of campaign and community interest company Her Game Too, said it had a reporting line on its website.

She added: "We pass everything on to the football policing unit and relevant clubs to deal with, either as a police matter or... within the club.

"They can be anonymous or [people can] give details. We need these reports to prove it's happening more and more and it's under reported."

Ms Drakeley stated it did not seem as if "it's as bad" as previously, but because there was a lack of reporting before, "it seems like it's going up".

Education is the next major plan for the organisation, which was founded in 2021 and also has a presence in France and the US.

"We believe it starts young. It's learnt behaviour... Adults have a responsibility to understand football is a game for all."

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