Jill, the last time we talked about, we discussed how football has become much more progressive since you started professionally over 30 years ago; However, we have seen players like Jess Carter should move away from social media due to racism received online. We have progressed with fans, distribute and increase players’ remuneration, but as sport increases, hatred too. How can we start to correct the abuses that players can receive online?
I think that when I told you about the final of the Champions League, I was doing campaigns with Heineken, and I think that doing an excellent job around the different aspects of the female game. At this stage, we were doing a sexism campaign, and really highlighting the way the female game can get a lot of negativity on social networks.
Now, Jess Carter’s situation really made me sad, not only as a footballer but as a human being. He is a player who continued to represent his country, made his family so proud and had this dream of being a little girl to play football for England, and she did it so well, so that online racist messages are heartbreaking. So we know that a lot of work must be done. I think these social media platforms must put things in place where these messages cannot filter. Jess has made a position now and said, “I leave social media”, but should she have to do that? No. This is something in which we must all improve. I always say that we can continue to push, we can continue to try to improve things, but I think that is where we realize that we have to do more.
I hope that Jess will be able to continue playing football with a smile on his face because even if there are people who say these things, I know that there are a lot of people who support and respect her and think she is a great player.
I think it was great to see the other teams, that you are supported by England, everyone joined them to make sure that Jess knows that she is sustained
Yeah, definitely. I think people cannot believe that these things always happen, but the reality is that they are, and these are things that we have to approach. This is where the world of football gathers and tries to get messages over there. For Jess to come out and talk about it will certainly help the next generation of players, and I think she was very courageous to do it. As you can see, our teammates support it, the fans support it, and it is not only of its country, but also of all the other nations.
