A women’s football player got in trouble because someone ran onto the pitch during a game and she knocked him over. The article says that this wouldn’t occur in the men’s game, largely because the stewards or similar figures would have run on and tackled him, instead of leaving him to roam around.
This is because:
> the UK’s Football Offences Act states…
>”It is an offence for a person at a designated football match to go onto the playing area, or any area adjacent to the playing area to which spectators are not generally admitted, without lawful authority or lawful excuse”
>However “designated football matches” do not include women’s professional matches.
Because of this, the police are not obliged to attend and when something happens like a fan rushing the pitch, the stewards/others can’t use rough measures to take them off the pitch.
>As a direct result of The Athletic’s reporting, members of Parliament have introduced legislation to include women’s matches in the law
So it was unfair, but thanks to this scandal and the reporting, it’s in the process of being fixed.
Honestly it looked a dangerous idea by the footballer sure the guy was being an Asshole but that could of really turned out violent really it should of been left to stewards to handle.
Alternate headline: There was less security at a less popular sporting event and that is sexist somehow.
>Had this been a men’s game, a fan would have had to have been hitting top speed to get anywhere near a player.
Don’t think that’s true at all. Judging by the video, the size of the stands and the number of spectators both seem pretty small. I reckon a fan could absolutely do the same sort of thing in a men’s game… Its only when you start getting into bigger games in bigger stadiums that they’d be getting tackled instantly.
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Summary:
A women’s football player got in trouble because someone ran onto the pitch during a game and she knocked him over. The article says that this wouldn’t occur in the men’s game, largely because the stewards or similar figures would have run on and tackled him, instead of leaving him to roam around.
This is because:
> the UK’s Football Offences Act states…
>”It is an offence for a person at a designated football match to go onto the playing area, or any area adjacent to the playing area to which spectators are not generally admitted, without lawful authority or lawful excuse”
>However “designated football matches” do not include women’s professional matches.
Because of this, the police are not obliged to attend and when something happens like a fan rushing the pitch, the stewards/others can’t use rough measures to take them off the pitch.
>As a direct result of The Athletic’s reporting, members of Parliament have introduced legislation to include women’s matches in the law
So it was unfair, but thanks to this scandal and the reporting, it’s in the process of being fixed.
Honestly it looked a dangerous idea by the footballer sure the guy was being an Asshole but that could of really turned out violent really it should of been left to stewards to handle.
Alternate headline: There was less security at a less popular sporting event and that is sexist somehow.
>Had this been a men’s game, a fan would have had to have been hitting top speed to get anywhere near a player.
Don’t think that’s true at all. Judging by the video, the size of the stands and the number of spectators both seem pretty small. I reckon a fan could absolutely do the same sort of thing in a men’s game… Its only when you start getting into bigger games in bigger stadiums that they’d be getting tackled instantly.