Players to train with women’s team after ‘sexist’ comments

Slowly but surely, women are gaining more and more acceptance in the football world. But the path to true gender parity isn’t particularly smooth.

Last weekend, Sparta Prague faced off against Brno in Czech First League action. It was a very, uh, spry confrontation that ultimately ended in a 3-3 draw.

One point of controversy came when a Brno player should’ve been ruled offside but wasn’t. We all know this as something that happens in football— assistant referees have a tough job and sometimes they don’t catch everything. Occasionally this results in goals that should never have counted. It sucks, and it’s unfair, but most people accept it as a quirk of the game, a transgression on par with the official missing something that would typically justify a red card.

Yet there are a number of people for whom the rules change when they learn that the AR in this case was a woman. Because then, this common mistake becomes unforgivable.

So it was that, in post-game comments to the press, Sparta goalkeeper Tomas Koubek told reporters that women have no business officiating men’s football. Indeed, as Koubek noted, “women belong at the stove.”

Soon after, injured teammate Lukas Vacha posted this on Twitter.

The photo shows the Assistant Referee in question, Lucie Ratajova. It translates roughly as “the stove” or “the cooker.” The implication is pretty clear.

Later, both Koubek and Vacha issued public apologies. Koubek posted his on Facebook, complete with a photo of his wife and young daughter, and said that his comment was aimed specifically at the Assistant Referee and not women in general. Vacha echoed that sentiment— his problem isn’t women, per se, just that particular woman.

The Czech FA is meeting on Thursday to decide what, if anything, they plan to do about this. Sparta Prague, on the other hand, has already taken action.

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