Lionesses star Beth Mead had the perfect response after an England football fan claimed the game isn’t as exciting as when it is played by men.
One radio listener rang in to LBC to put forward his viewing, insisting women’s footy is “never going to replicate that degree of tension, drama, and excitement”.
Ahead of the World Cup 2023 final between England and Spain on Sunday (August 20), the caller’s views were ridiculed by other social media users.
And when England fave Beth – who has scored 29 goals in 50 appearances for the Lionesses – reacted on social media, the fan came in for another crunching challenge.
England Lionesses star Beth Mead shoots… and scores
Striker Beth hasn’t made the trip Down Under along with her other Lionesses teammates as she is injured. She has suffered with an anterior cruciate ligament injury, and missed a lot of her club football last season due to it.
However, as far as her Twitter followers are concerned, she still shoots and scores with her social media performances. And even though she won’t be joining the other England players on the pitch this weekend, she’s clearly match fit when it comes to telling interventions.
Women’s football v men’s football
Beth, 28, shared her reaction as she quote-tweeted a clip of the caller’s claims. Identifying himself – without any kind of prompt – as a “vanilla heterosexual male”, the fan conceded there may be perceptions that women’s football is less aggressive, or reliant on physicality.
Instead, he noted the excitement of watching male athletes in their “prime” is “extreme” for him. He also added that while the technical aspect of women’s football may be more of a draw for some, it was still not going to ‘turn him on’. Ick.
And so, giving the view every iota of respect it was worth, Beth reacted with a yawning emoji.
“Watching 11 men face off against 11 men is super exciting, and the women’s game simply won’t replicate that same degree of tension, drama, and excitement.”
This caller tells @IainDale that women’s football will never live up to men’s football. pic.twitter.com/wGVJfhgVd9
— LBC (@LBC) August 16, 2023
How Lionesses fans reacted
“You just got owned by Beth Mead,” one social media user reacted, aiming their remark at the fan who spoke on the radio. Another user echoed Beth’s comeback, writing: “Yawn.”
Meanwhile songwriter Lisa Moorish chuckled away with a laughing emoji in her post, as well as a flame emoji. “Haters going to hate,” someone else dismissed the caller.
Elsewhere on Twitter, longtime footy fans also brushed aside the claims.
They clearly didn’t watch yesterday’s game.
“They clearly didn’t watch yesterday’s game. Still buzzing,” one person objected.
To which another replied: “Same here mate. I have stopped separating emotion between the men’s and women’s team now when it comes to England. Super proud of the Lionesses. Kinda wish we had someone like Hemp and Russo in the men’s team!”
And someone else chipped in: “I listened to this and thought… Total utter nonsense. Brilliant game yesterday. And the spirit it was played in reminded why I fell in love with the game all those years ago!”
Read more: All the celebrities paying tribute to the Lionesses
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