Lauren James of Chelsea and England during The Best FIFA Football Awards 2023 at The Apollo Theatre … [+]
Social media can be a great outlet for teams and athletes to grow their fan base. Many athletes, however, especially female athletes, are the target of persistent toxic comments. With a noticeable increase in negative social media related to women’s football, Visa, sponsor of the UEFA Women’s Champion League final, has enlisted England national football and Chelsea star, Lauren James, as the spokesperson for their campaign to drown out the hate with powerful messages of support.
According to Dr. Lauren Burch who studies digital and social media communication and marketing within the sport industry. “Online abuse is a widespread issue, not just in sport but across the professional world. There are deeper rooted issues in the online communication process, where gendered structures within sport and perceived anonymity makes people less inhibited to post abusive or hateful messages.”
Visa, the first ever UEFA sponsor dedicated to women’s football in 2018, conducted their own research on social media abuse related to women’s football. Their findings show that nearly one in ten (9%) of online comments over the last international tournaments were hateful – equating to over 38,000 posts across the UK, France, and Spain.
With their “Visa Pep Talks” social media campaign, Visa is soliciting support from the UK and international community to increase online support for women’s football in order to drown out the negativity.
Lauren James, a 22 year old professional footballer, forward for club Chelsea and the England national football team, was awarded the PFA Women’s Young Player of the Year for the 2022–2023 season. She was also named Chelsea Women’s Player of the Year for 2023–24.
Lauren James of England poses for a photo with her VISA Player Of The Match award after her sides … [+]
James’s personal experience with toxic comments motivated her to spearhead this initiative. She recently shared with me, “unfortunately, it’s happened to me too often and will continue to happen until people talk openly about it.”
James admits that she’s “received a fair amount of negativity on social media – racism most commonly. I’ve learned ways to better cope when I’m confronted by it, but that doesn’t make it any more acceptable.”
I asked James how the negative comments personally affect her. “I’m someone who always wants to just play football, so I try not to let the external noise get into me. I like to stay grounded.” She also admits, however, “the negative comments do take their toll and can be mentally draining.”
Toxic social media posts have the overall potential to affect performance and even ruin a sports career.
James talks about her ability to rise above this and block out the comments, saying the hate “in fact, it drives me more to prove those people wrong and show them who I am and who I stand for.”
She continues, “It’s not nice, of course, never easy to see and read. To block it out, I generally try to surround myself with positivity by filtering out what I do and don’t see or read and focus on positive comments from my fans. Supportive messages from them and the team around me give me the motivation to go out there and perform my best.”
James acknowledges that her fans and their messages mean everything. “They keep the game alive and give me courage.” She attributes most of her success to her support network of family, friends, and teammates.
Dr. Burch confirms that positive feedback has the potential to reduce the effect of the online hate. “Encouraging women to share their stories and personal experiences can encourage positivity to counteract the negativity. This is why this campaign is so powerful to combat abuse, and showcasing how sharing supportive statements of acceptance can elevate women’s achievements in sport and throughout professional life”
Kim Kadlec, Chief Marketing Officer, Visa Europe, said, “We have witnessed first-hand the unwavering impact that positive messages of support have on athletes so we’re proud to stand together to acknowledge the incredible achievements of women, both in sport and in business, to build a future we’re all proud of.”
Recognizing that she’s been lucky that her journey coincided with an increase in people watching women’s football, James shared that the large audience is having a positive effect on the game. “It’s important that we have a platform to showcase our success, as that encourages women players to do the same and inspire new talent to follow their dreams.”
Lauren James of England celebrates after scoring her team’s first goal during the FIFA Women’s World … [+]
James emphasized the importance of positive messages. “Visa found that four in five (80%) of women agree that positive messages of support help to empower them. This shows how much of a difference word of encouragement can have on not just women footballers, but women in all professions. Positivity should always rise above the hate.”
As a lead up to the UEFA Women’s Championship League final, Visa is encouraging people to share their positive messages of support on DAZN digital FanZone experience which is bringing fans together to engage and interact throughout the tournament.
Bonnie Marcus, M.ED, is the author of Not Done Yet! How Women Over 50 Regain Their Confidence and Claim Workplace Power and The Politics of Promotion: How High Achieving Women Get Ahead and Stay Ahead. An executive coach and speaker, Bonnie is also host of the podcast, Badass Women At Any Age.
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