Among the most ignorant feeds that dropped into my Twitter timeline was from some male fool asking why women feel the need to play rugby, soccer and cricket. Why don’t they stick to netball?
This ignoramus added that you don’t find men wanting to play netball, unless they are gay.
The first comment, in response, was more one of sympathy than anger that someone could still think this way. Another male asked if it was ever a consideration that women play rugby, soccer and cricket because they want to. And they do it at the highest level because they are good.
Then the stereotyping started, the homophobia started and the insults increased with a definite divide about what constitutes male and female sports. The absurdity of some of the arguments was beyond belief. Men in sport were deemed to be superior and women not worthy of a television audience.
The fools continued, unabated. There was nothing rational about the discussion. It just got messy.
It really is a depressing indictment of what ugliness trolls can elicit from others on social media, but it is not an indication of the greater feeling when it comes to women in sport.
The women’s World Cup is an example that quality is quality in a major sports tournament, whether it comes in the guise of a male or female. Here’s a statistic for the emotionally challenged Neanderthal who asked why women want to play supposedly male sports?
The answer is that more people in Britain, by way of just one example, watched England’s “Lionesses” lose a pulsating World Cup semi-final than any other sporting or entertainment show in 2019.
The England semi-final peaked with a 11.7 million audience, which was 2million more than watched the Grand National. It also trounced England’s Six Nations rugby viewership and was a third more than the two most watched English soccer matches this year.
The Wales versus England Six Nations match was watched by 8.9million, the Manchester United versus Chelsea FA Cup match got a viewership of 8.1million and England’s Six Nations rugby match against Ireland was the fifth-highest at 7.9million.
It also emphasised the power of terrestrial television, as 6.5 million watched the Champions League final between Liverpool and Tottenham on BT Sport. Compare this to the 11.7 million who wanted to watch women’s soccer.
The women’s World Cup in France has catapulted the sport. It has always been big at the Olympics, but nothing has ever compared to the numbers in match attendance or television viewership or social media and digital reach.
Nearly 2 million watched on the BBC’s digital platform. The tournament has had everything and more, and both semi-finals produced brilliance, drama and controversy.
When US’ Alex Morgan scored the winner against England she mocked a nation by referring to them as a bunch of tea-sippers. Her gesture caused outrage and the anger was only compounded by the heartbreak of England’s captain Steph Houghton’s missed penalty to level the scores with seven minutes to play.
The second semi-final was as dramatic, with Holland’s new Manchester United signing, Jackie Groenen, scoring in the 99th minute to beat Sweden 1-0. It is the first time Holland will play in the final.
It was also the first time Banyana Banyana participated in the World Cup, and interest in South Africa was unsurpassed when looking at the online statistics of IOL Sport.
The surge in viewership was consistent with the women’s World Cup cricket and women’s World Cup rugby, with both codes recording their biggest ever television and digital audience. Long may it continue where viewership is about the event and not whether it’s a male or female starring in the event.
Keohane is an award-winning sports journalist and the head of sport at Independent Media