ESPN Soccernet’s Headlines at 5 pm on Tuesday, August 24:
- France’s Evra to appeal five game suspension
- First N. Korean on German team scores in debut
- Brazil president warns of 2014 Cup prep issues
- Johnson: U.S. players fighting for respect in EPL
- U.S. coach Bradley interested in Aston Villa job
- Allsopp’s goals end United’s 5-game losing skid
- Chelsea, Arsenal enjoy 6-0 romps in EPL
- Phenom Neymar snubs Chelsea to stay in Brazil
- Internacional tops Chivas, claims 2nd Copa title
… and of course the headliner: Hair-pulling New Mexico soccer player back (with video). One of these stories is out of place, and no, it’s not the North Korean on a German team.
The non-story of Elizabeth Lambert, New Mexico’s scrappy hair-pulling wonder, first surfaced last season. Media outlets were mesmerized. I was mesmerized, but only as much as I’m entertained by the same antics in the men’s game.
Soccer scuffles are commonplace considering how many games take place every day around the world. In between coverage of the day’s events, we can usually find the latest player to chase a referee around the pitch in South America, or the latest player to fall victim to a Nigel de Jong judo chop or roundhouse.
The key difference between men’s and women’s coverage is that one can actually find legitimate men’s news on the same pages we find illegitimate fights.
Considering how little attention Soccernet typically pays to the women’s game, it’s not just the existence of this story, but its prominence that is enlightening. Jacqueline Purdy periodically graces Soccernet covering WPS. But aside from Purdy’s articles, you can look to Soccernet for coverage of the women’s league failing and hair-pulling. But rarely will you see stories about the women’s game prominently placed. And we wonder why the women’s game consistently struggles to reach the general public.
Am I suggesting equal coverage of men’s and women’s soccer on Soccernet? No. But surely there should be space for the occasional story between the doomsday stories and the hair-pulling sagas.
Our perception of what exists is largely shaped by the information that mainstream outlets chose to provide. In this mainstream world, producers throw out interesting, relevant stories every single day, simply because a story does not fit in a predetermined narrative. Clearly the predetermined narrative at ESPN Soccernet is that the women’s game is peripheral, if not invisible, uninteresting, and a potential source of entertainment, but only in a Stone Age sort of way. They don’t have to explicitly say this. Their actions speak for them.
The irony here is that the Lambert article raises a point that is underscored by Soccernet’s awkward placement of the article. Lambert shares:
I definitely feel because I am a female, it did bring about a lot more attention than if a male were to do it. It’s more expected for men to go out there and be rough. The female, we’re still looked at as, ‘Oh, we kick the ball around and score a goal.’
And she couldn’t be more correct.
Congratulations, Elizabeth. Once again, you are on the front page for being all those things a woman is not supposed to be. But surely when the season starts and things start happening on the field again, women’s soccer will get the coverage it deserves — that is, as long as the “happenings” don’t involve women actually playing soccer properly.
Look for more hair-pulling this season because we all recognize that it’s the quickest way to get the attention of a major soccer outlet.
And for the ladies — learn your lesson. Don’t ignore your catfighting skills. As media savants Kim Kardashian and Paris Hilton will tell you, the quickest way to the front page is not through talent.
ESPN Soccernet seemingly agrees. Thank you for the lesson.
