A moon statement. Northern Ireland women’s national team manager Kenny Shiels claimed that women conceded more goals because of their more developed ’emotionality’ than men. “Girls and women are more emotional than men. So they score a goal and then demobilize,” he told a news conference after his players’ 5-0 defeat to England in the 2023 World Cup qualifiers.
The Northern Ireland coach didn’t stop there in his explanation, extending his observation to all teams: “In women’s football you will have noticed, if you follow the usual patterns, that when a team concedes a goal, they have a second in a very short time. It’s a problem we have. Not just Northern Ireland, but all countries have this problem.” Surely understanding that his words were going too far, the technician simply dropped a “I didn’t tell you that” at the end of his statement. “I want to apologize for the comments I made at the press conference last night. after the game (Tuesday, editors note). I am sorry if anyone has been hurt by this,” Shiels said in a statement from the Football Association of Northern Ireland.
His comments were criticized by former England internationals, both on the men’s side, such as Ian Wright, and on the women’s side, such as Siobhan Chamberlain. “Talking about emotionality in women! This man has not seen how many times I have cried on a football pitch,” tweeted the former Arsenal and England striker. The former England “Lionesses” goalkeeper, Chamberlain, had judged the coach’s words “a little weird.” It’s not just in women’s competitions, we see that in men’s competitions and to generalize this to women is a bit weird,” she told the BBC.
The Northern Ireland women’s team had already been eliminated from the World Cup race. She finished third in her group, behind Austria and England, as 1st in the group and will compete well in the world in Australia and New Zealand in July 2023.
