Sacking of US soccer coach follows Durham Uni football misogyny study

An American ‘soccer’ coach has been sacked after grabbing a female referee and telling her “Don’t forget, this is a man’s game” – only months after a Durham University (DU) study found sexism and misogyny is an ongoing problem in football.

The dismissal of Federico Higauin as coach for the US soccer (football) team Columbus Crew came only last month, and suggests that the problem highlighted by DU’s Professor Stacey Pope involves even senior men in the professional game around the world.

Higauin was fired after a match in August, when he:

• grabbed and squeezed the female referee’s hand forcefully, refusing to let go even after being told to stop three times;
• then told the official “Don’t forget, this is a man’s game”;
• was shown a red card and initially handed a two-match suspension by the MLS Next Pro league.

After an internal review, Columbus Crew general manager Issa Tall confirmed Higuaín’s dismissal, saying his conduct did not meet the standards expected of a club leader.

The Professional Soccer Referees’ Association had heavily criticized the league’s initial two-match ban for Higauin as inadequate, demanding harsher consequences – after which the club sacked him.

The incident follows Prof Pope’s research into misogyny (hatred of, or prejudice against, females) among fans, about which she said: “It revealed that openly misogynistic attitudes still dominate football fandom in the UK.

“Three-quarters of men held either overt or covert misogynistic attitudes towards women in football.”

Prof Pope added: “The lack of visibility of female football fans in popular and academic accounts, combined with assumptions that women did not attend football matches in the past, has contributed to the widely held views that women fans are less ‘authentic’.

“Or they are perceived as newcomers to football, with less knowledge, and thus treated with less respect.”

Prof Pope set up an exhibition featuring female football fans’ memories, to highlight the point that female fans are as “authentic” as their male counterparts – which visited Sunderland’s Beacon of Light in March.