Social Issues

If you would like to learn how to alienate a club’s fanbase, perhaps irrevocably, you would struggle to find a better case study than the NWSL’s N.C. Courage this week. On Sunday, the club announced the signing of a player, Jaelene Daniels, antithetical to the vast majority of the team’s and league’s fans. After two full days of silence, the club put out a shockingly meek “apology” late Wednesday night, only further upsetting the once devoted fanbase. 

In October of 2020, after a devastating summer for a country unwilling to reverse centuries of systemic white supremacy, Imani Dorsey and dozens of other Black women playing in the NWSL creating the Black Women’s Player Collective, aimed at advancing opportunities for Black girls in sports and beyond. On Wednesday, the U.S. Soccer Federation honored Dorsey, one of the BWPC’s founding board members, with the inaugural Social Impact Award.

On Sunday afternoon, the N.C. Courage announced they had signed a one-year deal with retired fullback Jaelene Daniels, formerly known as Jaelene Hinkle. Now NWSL fans across the country — especially in North Carolina — are furious over the signing. On the other side of the continent, the Portland Thorns angered their fans for drafting a player with a history of horribly racist, homophobic and transphobic behavior on Twitter. 

This is not how the NWSL wanted to end what has already been a shit year for the league. 

Premier League clubs have agreed to continue playing games scheduled over the festive period despite a surge in Covid-19 cases postponing several fixtures, the BBC reported on Monday.

Ten Premier League games have been postponed this month due to outbreaks amid a busy schedule where teams are set to play three times between Boxing Day and Jan. 3.

Last week, Sam Kerr body slammed some piece of shit who invaded the pitch during Chelsea’s Women’s Champions League match against Juventus. Kerr was shown a yellow card as punishment. The pitch invader will not be punished at all.

Why? Misogyny, that’s why. 

This summer, the NCAA abandoned its archaic rules prohibiting college athletes from making money off their name, image and likeness. On Tuesday, UCLA women’s soccer player Reilyn Turner was announced as the first Nike NIL deal, a sign the athletic apparel behemoth is interested in more than putting its products in front of the most eyes possible.

As if the recent NWSL trading spree hasn’t been enough to keep track of — Krashlyn off to New York, Julie Ertz to LA and now Alex Morgan going to San Diego — two major financial news stories dropped for the U.S. women’s national team on Monday.

As a society, we’re pretty bad about allowing those in the public eye the opportunity to grow as humans, whether it’s a comedian telling an inappropriate joke 10 years ago or a politician’s evolving ideology. Too often public perception is rooted in the idea that you are who you are and you cannot change. 

With that in mind, I think we should praise Bayern Munich and Germany midfielder Joshua Kimmich for recognizing he was wrong and wishing he had done better. 

GOTHENBURG, Sweden — BK Haecken midfielder Elin Rubensson has called on Swedish football to support players who decide to become pregnant during their elite careers and offer them greater security.

Less than a year after the birth of her son Frans, Sweden international Rubensson was back pulling the strings as her side lost 5-1 to Bayern Munich in the Champions League on a snowy night in Gothenburg on Thursday.

It’s a busy time in the NWSL. Players are coming and going across the league, from big-name stars to lesser-known role players ahead of next week’s NWSL Expansion Draft and NWSL Draft. But that doesn’t excuse what Racing Louisville did this week.