Chelsea’s Kirby speaks out on body image, social media abuse،
Chelsea and England midfielder Fran Kirby has spoken out against body image and abuse on social media and said that while toxic fan criticism is linked to the growing visibility of women's football, Negative comments are “difficult” to read.
“It's really important to emphasize that, of course, we're professional athletes and we need to be fit to play our sport, but body shape doesn't determine whether you're fit enough,” Kirby told the BBC.
“A lot of people see athletes as robots.”
“I'm at the end of the comments, as are my teammates. It's a problem but I don't think it's just a women's football problem. I think it's more serious than that.”
One in five female players were targets of online abuse during the 2023 Women's World Cup, FIFA said last month, as a suite of social media protection tools hid nearly 117,000 comments .
More than 150 players received targeted discriminatory, abusive or threatening messages during the tournament in Australia and New Zealand.
A knee injury kept Kirby, 30, out of the Women's World Cup, one of several physical issues throughout her career, including a heart condition she was diagnosed with in 2020, and layoffs led to negative comments about it. weight.
“Coming back from an injury, you’re not going to be in the best shape of your life,” she said. “It was quite hard for me a few years ago because of my heart problem. I had been off for a while and had gained a bit of weight because physically I couldn't do anything.
It's not like we trained for a week and all of a sudden you're in great shape and ready to go. It was hard reading those comments.”
Missing the World Cup was heartbreaking, but Kirby said she was proud of her England teammates who lost to Spain in the final.
“Of course, missing a World Cup is not a good feeling at all, there was always this feeling inside, I wish I was there,” she said. “But I made a decision very early [after knee surgery] that I wasn't going to let this affect me. I didn't think it would do me any good. »
Since returning from her knee injury, Kirby has made eight appearances in the Women's Super League for Chelsea, who top the table, three points ahead of Manchester City.
Kirby has scored 103 goals in all competitions for Chelsea since signing for the club in 2015. She has six months left on her contract and said there had been no conversations with the club, but she believed she could always be a key player.
“I want to continue playing soccer and playing at a high level,” she said. “I always feel like I have a lot to give wherever I am, whether at Chelsea or elsewhere. But I love the club.”
