Fri, August 01, 2025
Sport England impels Ofcom to address abuse of female footballers
The chair of Sport England Chris Boardman has urged Ofcom, communications industry regulator, to address the recent online abuse targeted at the England Women’s football team. Despite winning the UEFA Women’s Euro 2025 in the final against the Spanish World Champions ahead of the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2027, the Lionesses suffered abuse throughout the tournament. A recent UK study has also revealed that half of female athletes within the UK encounter sexism despite significant progress within women’s sport.
Boardman highlights how this could potentially have a damaging impact on all women and girls in sport.
Part of Boardman’s letter to Ofcom stated: “I am writing to express Sport England’s deep concern regarding the recent wave of racist and sexist abuse directed at members of the England Women’s football team across social media platforms. This behaviour is abhorrent and unacceptable in any context, but it is especially disheartening given the progress we have made in championing women and girls in sport…
Research on behalf of our This Girl Can campaign has shown a fear of judgement is a huge barrier to women being active, and abuse of our elite athletes online only increases reservations amongst those taking part at a community level….
We are therefore writing to national governing bodies and Active Partnerships to urge them to take a public stand against this abuse and to support their athletes in calling for change…
We also believe that Ofcom has a vital role to play. The Online Safety Act 2023 provides a framework to address illegal and harmful content, including hate speech and misogynistic abuse. We note that Ofcom has now published its initial Codes of Practice, including those relating to illegal harms and the protection of children. These codes place legal duties on in-scope services to assess risks and take proportionate steps to mitigate them…
We would also be grateful for any guidance we can share with our partners to help them support athletes and advocate for safer online spaces.”
Lioness Jess Carter suffered severe racial abuse during the tournament. She expressed: “From the start of the tournament, I have experienced a lot of racial abuse. Whilst I feel every fan is entitled to their opinion on performance and result, I don't agree or think it's OK to target someone's appearance or race. As a result of this, I will be taking a step back from social media and leaving it to a team to deal with.”
The abuse was so severe that she was “scared to play” in the final.
Sentient Sports uses AI to detect online abuse. It reported that of nearly 3,700 publicly posted social media messages mentioning Carter during the Euros, some 12% featured a form of personal abuse. These numbers were also reported before the final, so the level of abuse likely increased. Lauren James reportedly faced the second highest level of abuse.
Sentient Sports also reported that where hate speech was used against the Lionesses, 61% was sexist or misogynistic, about 13% was racist, and a further 10% was homophobic. Furthermore, 91% of abusive users were UK-based, with a 75:25 male-to-female ratio.
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy told BBC Sport that social media companies and Ofcom “need to do more.”
She continued: “We brought in the Online Harms Act this year to make sure there are sanctions for companies that don't take this content down and we are doing a lot of work in schools to educate young people about the impact of online abuse but it's incumbent on all of us to call this out…
It's absolutely disgraceful what [Jess Carter] has had to put up with and we are completely behind her and the Lionesses.”
Boardman’s full letter can be found here.
