Twitter defends women’s national football team after reporter focuses on their ‘knickers’ instead of their performance
The Pakistan women’s national football team won their match against the Maldives on Tuesday with a score of 7-0 at the SAFF Women’s Championship, scoring their first win in eight years. While most people praised British-Pakistani footballer Nadia Khan for scoring four of the seven goals, a reporter at the post-game press conference proved that at the end of the day, some people can only focus on a woman’s clothes, not her achievements.
The reporter asked team coach Adeel Rizki why the players were “wearing knickers [shorts] when they could have worn leggings” during the match.
The coach said that they were indeed representing Pakistan, a country that holds its social and religious values very close, but said that in sports, “one has to be progressive”. “We have never tried to stop anyone as far as the uniform is concerned, it’s something we don’t control,” he explained.
The video sparked a debate about the appropriateness of the reporter’s line of questioning. Participating in the debate is TV host and RJ Anoushey Ashraf who reposted the news to her Instagram stories, laughed and wrote, “This reporter should know that this country became an ‘Islamic’ republic much after the death of the Quaid. This country was made for oppressed Muslims, not on the name of Islam to suppress Muslims of their choices.”
She added, “The girls choose, and we’ve all been exposed to religion as much as anyone else and make informed choices. But as a man him worrying about their ‘nikker’ is cringe worthy. A true definition is a person who doesn’t judge but only leads by example.”
She also said that people came to Islam for the “rest and grace” shown by Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) not by “nasty comments he never gave anyone”. Ashraf concluded with a request that the reporter should be banned “for reporting everything else besides his actual job, covering their play and the tournament of football”.
People wanted to know who the “ignorant reporter” was.
This user had a tip for the reporter — don’t watch it if it bugs you.
Another sarcastically called it “amazing” that despite their “spirited performance” the team gets asked about their ‘knickers’.
This user wants someone to tell the “journalist” to lower his gaze instead.
Squash player Noorena Shams also shared the clip and asked if the journalist ever bothered to ask “when money is stolen? When positions are exploited? When corruption is done?” and why everything boils down to women’s clothes. “I wish [they would] be vocal about every wrong deed in our country,” she said.
Another user said that these women deserve so much respect for battling opponents on the field and “creepy mindsets” off it.
People said they were “sick of the conversation” always being about women’s clothing in Pakistan. “Fix your life, do something for your country instead of focusing on what women are wearing instead of how much they have achieved.”
Another was curious to know if the journalist has ever questioned male athletes or celebrities about their clothes.
Tuesday’s match was marked the Pakistan women’s team’s biggest win ever. It suffered losses against India and Bangladesh in the earlier stages of the tournament. Though the team was knocked out of the semi-finals and final chase, they hoped to end the tournament on a high note, which they did, comments about their clothes notwithstanding.
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