professional setting

Sexism in the American professional soccer league
When the American national women’s soccer team started out they had no ambivalent equipment, no training time and very poor travelling possibilities. A reason for this might have been the great resistance against women’s soccer, because of the male- dominated and tradition bound institutions of that time.
That women’s soccer was not as successful as men’s soccer is even visible in the number of clubs in 1981- 521 established men teams and only 77 women team, an enormous gap. Even today there are far more men clubs- 19- then there are women clubs -5.
When the women team won their first World Cup against final opponent China in a penalty shoot-out, the victory was overshadowed by another incident. The player, who shot the final penalty kick, Brandi Chastain, removed her shirt to celebrate her team’s win. What followed was a wave of articles that on one side praised her for her athletic performance, but the number of articles that criticized her act of removing her shirt were even lager. Chastain’s action that was most likely caused by an adrenaline rush after winning the game, turned into a discussion of sexually offending. Unintentionally she brought a negative view on women’s soccer and started a huge controversy. A lot of articles presented the player as eye candy and not as the great athlete she was. Instead of looking at the physical abilities of the players there were now presented as fun, wild, sexy women kicking some balls for fun and the high number of stories shows that such an opinion was widely accepted during that time.
Such a thing would not have happened if the player had been male. Everyone would have taken this incident as an outburst of emotion that it certainly had been.
As a conclusion and to end the controversy FIFA outlawed the removing of shirts in 2003. It concerned men and women. It also started a debate on the problem of sexism that many journalists had.
This problem of sexism in the professional field of soccer was not only a problem at that time, it is still a problem today.
Even officials and journalist, who work for the American soccer league, are not afraid of commenting on sexism remarks.
Simon Borg, a writer for the U.S. men's professional soccer league, Major League Soccer (MLS), and panelist for "ExtraTime," the official podcast of the MLS commented on female fans:
“It's fine if you're a female and you want to be a super-fan. Clearly go for it, that's your choice. But there is something to be said for how appealing that might be to the other sex. Having a woman that's such a fan, like painting your face, tuning in to every podcast. I don't know how many males would be into that.”
“It's great that in Kansas City there are a lot of women in the stands, it's great, but for the guy who wants maybe a serious relationship...If you are following just casually, but if you're such a die-hard, I don't know, it comes a point that it is a bit of a turn-off.”
The MLS immediately reacted to it by suspending Borg for only seven days. He was not fired as many players and soccer fans demanded.
These comments by Borg were not the first sexist remarks made by the media of the MLS.
Another example was the un-moderated comments on the Facebook page of MLS. Many people commented on a sexist picture that was posted with also sexist and degrading comments and no one felt responsible of controlling the comments.
If there is also sexism in the official soccer league and there is little done about it, how can someone then expect others to fight sexism? They should set an example and not only favor it.