These now-deleted tweets were posted yesterday in what Sports Illustrated National Football League commentator Andy Benoit claims was a lighthearted response "to playful ribbing" over two truly spectacular Women's World Cup matches, one of which involved the US emerging victorious over Colombia. Accused of disliking women's soccer, he reassured a colleague that it was in fact all women's sports he had a problem with. Sports Illustrated is famous for its borderline soft-porn bikinied cover models, making Benoit's comments sadly unsurprising.
Female soccer players, like most other sportswomen, typically earn a fraction of the wages enjoyed by their male counterparts. An estimated 14 million women play organized soccer in the US, but only 180 of them are paid for their troubles. Of those who are paid, many make less than $15 an hour. No American professional women's soccer team has ever lasted more than three years. With conditions like this and a culture in which they are insulted by prominent sports "authorities" like Benoit, it's clear that these women need our support.
Funnily enough, lots of people disagreed with him...
1. This guy reckons the stats don't add up
2. This woman reckons he's had a bad experience
3. This guy thinks he should move over and let someone more capable take the helm
