Emma Hayes Says Women’s Sport Has A Problem With Under-Fueling

Chelsea’s head coach Emma Hayes claims that women’s sport has a problem with body-shaming exacerbated by social media which is risking players’ physical and mental health.

Hayes was reacting to a video posted on Chelsea TV of star forward Fran Kirby, who has recently returned from a long-term recurring knee injury which forced her to miss this summer’s FIFA Women’s World Cup. In it, Kirby was asked why she was wearing a jacket at Chelsea’s training ground on a hot day explaining it was “because I get called fat all the time, so I have to cover it up.”

In April, Hayes ruled Kirby unavailable for the foreseeable future. “She’s been suffering a lot with fatigue,” Hayes said. “I don’t have a definitive reason why that is, we don’t know, but we’re trying to get to the bottom of it and find the right solutions for Fran because this is something that’s been ongoing and, unfortunately, until we get to the bottom of it she won’t be available for selection.”

While she underwent surgery this summer to correct the issue with her knee. It now appears that nutrition and body image may have impacted her recovery. In the video, Kirby went on to admit, “I think there still is a big fear of carbs, not just in myself, but in the women’s game, in terms of fueling, in terms of being ready for a game and being able to withstand the level for ninety plus minutes.”

“There is that stigma around it, as the game is growing. I do believe it has become more noticeable that people are getting comments about their weight and how they look on TV or how they look in pictures. That shouldn’t matter, what body-type you are, how you look in a dress, how you look in a kit.”

“It’s something that should be championed to be strong and if that means you have to eat more, you’re doing the right things that your body needs, not just because of how you look on camera.”

Kirby’s head coach Hayes supported her player during a pre-match press conference ahead of tomorrow’s game against Aston Villa. She went to explain why there should be more consideration of how athletes are judged. “I do not believe in the women’s game you should have weigh-ins or body-compostion tests. The media need to be mindful of the insecurities that might be there.”

“Body-shaming is a real thing and the players feel it and I was proud of Fran for saying that because as women we’re judged enough to look a certain way. But in order to perform at the level that you need to, you need to eat carbs, as well as a healthy diet.”

“Unfortunately there is a problem in the game – I’m not going to just limit it to the women’s game – there is a problem in sport with under-fuelling and under-loading and that comes with the certain demands to look a certain way and unfortunately a vitriolic environment that comes from social media. Fran has certainly fell victim to that, as other players have as well.”

“So I always urge everyone to be mindful of that because we’re destroying people in many ways and I’m really glad that Fran said out loud what so many female players do not say enough.”

When asked if she feels it herself as a high-profile figure in the women’s game, Hayes confessed that she did. “The press are always going to want to paint certain pictures. I personally ignore it. Sometimes people are not kind but I guess you have to have a thick skin in my job.”

“My thing is I always want to try and educate so I’ll always say to someone, please can you not try to take a photo like that. Or please can you consider the athlete. Or please can you just take a head-shot, I don’t want you to do a zoom up of that.”

“I think educating people around it is important because maybe photographers are not always conscious of it. They may take a shot of something thinking ‘nobody’s ever said that to me because I’ve only ever captured male footballers before’ but I do think they have to think about it. I’m only talking about things that all female footballers do discuss in the background.”

“Yeah, I’m one of them, I do feel the same way they do but I’m a bit older. I’m in the menopause so I’ve got my other challenges.”