THE FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION of Ireland [FAI] has condemned vile comments made on a livestream broadcast of yesterday’s Women’s U17 league final.
Shamrock Rovers player Jessie Stapleton highlighted some of the comments in a post on Twitter last night, with it widely shared since.
The tweet, containing screenshots of comments about players and officials and captioned, “What comes with playing girls football in Ireland,” has been retweeted over 600 times and has received over 4.1k likes since just before 11pm last night.
What comes with playing girls football in Ireland 👌🏻👌🏻 pic.twitter.com/saQwjnVTqu
— Jessie Stapleton (@JessStapleton_) December 23, 2020
An FAI spokesperson told The42 this afternoon: “The FAI is aware of comments made by members of the public during the live streaming of the Women’s Under 17 League final on Wednesday afternoon, broadcast with the assistance of an outside agency.
“Such comment is not acceptable in any circumstance. These comments have now been removed and the FAI will closely monitor the comment function on all future live streams.”
The match, in which Cork City beat Rovers 2-0 thanks to goals from Olivia Gibson and Laura Shine, appears to have been taken down from the FAI TV Youtube channel.
Well done to @JessStapleton_ for highlighting this after yesterday’s great U17 @FAI_WNL final.
— Shelbourne FC (@shelsfc) December 24, 2020
A lot more work to be done heading into 2021 to level the playing the field and we look forward to working with clubs and governing bodies to do just that. #CantSeeCantBe https://t.co/KmTRpSx60l